Remarkably, this is not even the first time that New Shiloh Christian Center in Melbourne, Florida has been attacked. In February, a vandal set fire to the church’s storage shed and tagged it with swastikas; in March, the church’s trucks were vandalized. Somehow, these attacks were not described as hate crimes by police. But the New Shiloh Christian Center has a predominantly black congregation, and the horrors visited upon Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon and her congregation by vandals this past weekend can’t be seen any other way.
From MyNews13:
The church bistro was […] ransacked, with shattered glass left all over the floor. Fire extinguishers were sprayed, and footprints were left behind from the vandals.
“They came back into the foyer area, and the flower that was sitting up was down on the floor,” said Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon. “A portrait of myself and my husband, they took out of the main foyer and left it on the floor.”
Gordon said the scariest part was finding her husband’s truck spray painted with the words “Charleston 2.” The vandals smashed the windows and ruined the side mirrors.
“They actually drove the vehicle into the pond, and the truck was submerged underwater,” said Lashaunda Edwards, Gordon’s daughter. “The doors were wide open, and glass was just everywhere.”
Police are offering a reward for the capture of the criminal who vandalized the church, but Gordon’s not taking this as any guarantee of protection. She told MyNews13 that it’s time for the church to hire a 24/7 security guard, even though the money’s not in the church budget. But then, Gordon points out that there wasn’t room in the budget for all the repairs the previous attacks made necessary, either.