The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is reviewing whether vandalism at a Catholic school in Southern California constitutes a hate crime following extensive damage discovered at Holy Innocents Catholic School in Long Beach this week.
Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon confirmed the federal review after the Long Beach Police Department began investigating what occurred during a break-in at the parochial school.
Local police described the incident as "a crime of opportunity with damage caused during the course of a burglary," according to a statement provided to Breitbart.
The vandalism included significant destruction of religious property inside the school.
As described by the Long Beach Post, statues of the Virgin Mary were smashed, with hands and at least one head severed.
Prayer books were pulled from shelves and scattered across the floor, the tabernacle was torn from its chapel, and musical instruments and classroom equipment were damaged or ransacked.
Cyril Cruz, the school's principal, described the scene in a public post after arriving on campus Monday morning.
"A statue of the blessed mother which had been here since the school opened (in 1958) was desecrated and smashed," Cruz wrote. "Another statue was beheaded in there."
Cruz said the damage to religious objects was especially difficult for the school community. "These are items of our faith," she wrote.
Holy Innocents Catholic School serves close to 300 students in grades K-12, with many families from Hispanic and Filipino communities. Tuition is offered at reduced rates.
Advocacy groups pointed to the Long Beach incident as part of a continuing pattern of vandalism directed at Catholic institutions.
The organization Catholics for Catholics said in a social media post that attacks on Catholic sites continue while a group leader said such incidents receive limited public attention.
The Catholic Votes group has tracked incidents involving vandalism, arson, and property destruction at Catholic sites nationwide since 2020, reporting nearly 550 attacks documented, with an uptick following the leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Despite the damage, Holy Innocents School resumed classes Tuesday, holding Mass in the school gym and organizing cleanup efforts with assistance from parents.
A GoFundMe campaign established to help cover repair costs raised more than $125,000 within two days.
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