Virgin Mary Statue Beheading a Hate Crime, According To Statue’s Owner

A woman in Windsor Locks, Connecticut is reeling after vandals attacked and decapitated her Virgin Mary statue, replacing the statue’s head with a lawn gnome.

While some have called the incident a prank or an act or random vandalism, Darlene Fraga believes the attack was a hate crime against her, reports NECN. Fraga stated that:

“It just hurts me so bad I want to cry. They took a sledgehammer or something and decapitated her and took her crown of roses and her rosary beads.”

Several weeks ago, Fraga walked outside to discover the badly damaged Virgin Mary statue. About one week after the statue’s initial damage, the woman stated that whoever committed the crime came back and placed the garden gnome where Mary’s head used to be.

Police have tied the crime to a string of vandalism in the neighborhood, but, for Fraga, it is more complicated than that. Despite the pain she feels seeing the damaged statue, Fraga has not been able to removed or fix it. She stated:

“I think after I get over the initial shock. I’m going to take the whole thing down.”

NBC-2 notes that Police in Windsor Locks believe the vandalism is linked to a group of kids but do not have any suspects yet. Darlene Fraga is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible and had an ominous warning for the suspect, saying, “Whoever did it, God knows and you know. It’s riding on your shoulder now.”

The person responsible for decapitating the Virgin Mary statue will be charged with criminal mischief when they are caught.