The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating a case of criminal mischief at a Forest Hills house of worship in which a vandal threw a rock to intentionally damage its glass front door, according to authorities.
Police say that just before 4 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, police from the 112th Precinct were called to Grace Lutheran Church, located at 103-15 Union Tpke., after a man threw a rock and damaged the church’s front door.
The NYPD on Jan. 30 released surveillance video that caught the man in the act as he threw the rock at the door.
The bearded suspect has a light complexion and wore a gray baseball cap, a red long-sleeved shirt, black pants and gray sneakers.
The same church, across from the northern edge of Forest Park, was targeted by a vandal in a similar attack in 2021, and a masked gunman robbed four parishioners at Grace Lutheran Church in the spring of 2011. In that incident, the armed robber got away with the victim’s wallets, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS.