Vandals desecrate, ransack, attempt to breach tabernacle at California Catholic school

Vandals broke into Holy Innocents Catholic School in Long Beach, California, overnight, caused extensive damage to classrooms and sacred spaces, destroyed religious statues, and attempted to breach the tabernacle, according to a report from the Long Beach Post News. 

The vandalism was discovered around 7 a.m. Feb. 2, when staff arrived to prepare for morning Mass, according to the school, and police were called shortly afterward. 

Tony Tripp, the school’s director of advancement, said police arrived on the scene about four hours later and expressed alarm at the extent of the damage, the Post News reported. 

A life-size statue of the Virgin Mary, installed when the school opened in 1958, was knocked to the ground, had its head broken off, and was further smashed using a podium thrown on top of it, according to a report from ABC7. 

Other statues and images of Mary were smashed, with hands and heads broken, according to the Post News. Principal Cyril Cruz told FOX11 Los Angeles that crucifixes were damaged as well. 

Prayer books and Bibles were dumped from bookshelves and thrown across the floors, the Post News’ report said. A framed image of Pope Leo XIV was also shattered, according to CBS LA. 

The tabernacle, holding the consecrated Eucharist, was ripped from its place in the sanctuary, thrown to the floor, and pried at in an attempt to force it open so the Hosts could be accessed or removed, according to multiple reports. It was confirmed to multiple sources that the tabernacle was not fully breached. 

“We had the tabernacle, the gold tabernacle where our Lord is kept here, they tried to break that open to get the host out of there,” Tripp told KTLA 5, a Nexstar affiliate. 

The school’s classrooms, assembly hall, and chapel were trashed. Shelves were overturned, furniture thrown or destroyed, and school supplies and learning materials scattered or ruined, according to multiple reports. 

Curtains were pulled down, cabinets were torn from walls, and snack boxes were raided. Audio system equipment was ripped out or damaged and musical instruments and internet devices were targeted and stacked near exits, suggesting intent to steal some items, according to multiple reports. 

But Cruz told CBS5 he believed the damage was particularly targeted toward sacred items. 

"They were starting to stack up musical instruments, and different things like that, but the damage that's particularly done to the sacred objects like the statues and the tabernacle ... they took time to really damage those articles,” he said.

Estimates range up to $100,000 to cover repairs, replacements, and cleanup. Some of the damaged statues were described as worth tens of thousands of dollars each. 

Police collected blood samples, fingerprints, and shoe prints from the scene. No suspects have been identified. The FBI was notified because of the targeted destruction of religious items. 

​​The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division launched an investigation on Feb. 2, treating the vandalism as a potential civil rights violation due to the targeted desecration of religious items, such as smashed Virgin Mary statues and an attempted breach of the tabernacle. 

https://x.com/AAGDhillon/status/2018511445127033159?s=20 

The school has experienced previous break-ins, but officials said nothing has been on this scale.

Bishop Mark Trudeau, who visited the campus Feb. 2, called it one of the worst vandalism cases he has encountered in the region.

Cruz said the damage went beyond material loss, noting the destruction of the school's crucifixes and statues of the Blessed Mother as well as the damage to the tabernacle, which houses the Sacred Hosts.

"That, to me, is more traumatizing than anything else. It's not just the material things. It's the heart behind the things," Cruz told FOX 11, adding that "evil is out there, so we need to pray."