Thieves in upstate New York targeted Catholics attending Christmas masses over the holiday. The criminals hit at least two church parking lots as masses were underway. Churchgoers at two different churches in Rochester, New York, had their car windows smashed, and items taken from inside their vehicles. At least one car was stolen. According to local news, no suspects have been located.
Attendees of the midnight mass at St. Marianne Cope Catholic Church were victimized by the criminals. Likewise at Joseph’s Church in Penfield, more than a dozen cars were broken into and at least one car was stolen. Because of high attendance, parishioners were forced to park their vehicles at a local elementary school. Like the break-ins at St. Marianne Cope Catholic Church, police have yet to identify any suspects. Both incidents remain under investigation.
Mark Elsaesser told News10NBC “I mean, this is typically a safe area from what we understand,” the parishioner said “We’ve been coming here a long time. Never seen anything like this happen, especially on the holidays, Christmas time.” He added “My wife and I got married here, We’ve had our daughter baptized here, so we’ve been coming here a very long time, and nothing like this has ever happened.”
This was not the only attack on Catholics over the Christmas Holidays. Thomas Von Goetz, 56, has been charged after two incidents at churches in Maryland. He is alleged to have poured whiskey in holy water and thrown tangerines at parishioners. According to police, the suspect entered Holy Angels Catholic Church after 5 p.m. on December 24. He is alleged to have dropped an onion on the altar. When a parishioner followed Von Goetz, the man threw oranges at him.
Later that evening Midnight Mass at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Leonardtown, the suspect disrupted the service by pouring whiskey into the holy water and threatening the parishioners. When police escorted him away Von Goetz attempted to hit people with a whiskey bottle. He has been transported to the hospital for a medical evaluation. He has been charged with second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, defacing religious property, religious crime against a group, obstructing a religious exercise, threat of mass violence, and disturbing the peace.
Some church attacks have been much more serious. According to police, the man who aimed a gun at church security in Fort Wayne wanted to “kill everyone.” Tyler Leavitt, 40, is facing a laundry list of charges from the incident on December 7th. According to court documents, Levitt arrived at the living nativity even with his wife before waving a gun at police officers providing security. After confronting the suspect, police apprehended the suspect in his truck.
The same record reports that “Officers had to use force to restrain the Defendant and take him into custody because the Defendant would not obey verbal commands.” Levitt was arrested and charged with several serious crimes. These include criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, resisting law enforcement, battery committed with a deadly weapon, pointing a loaded firearm at another, disarming law enforcement officer, and disorderly conduct.