NJ church ‘devil’
Five churches in New Jersey were vandalized over the weekend by a man who used to attend services at one of the sites, authorities said on Sunday.
The predominantly black houses of worship, all within a mile of each other in Morris County, sustained various degrees of damage early Saturday, from broken stained glass to smashed signs.
“You would never think this would happen in a place of worship — it’s a sacred place,” said Robert Rogers, pastor of the vandalized Church of God in Christ for All Saints in Morristown.
“But I guess we’re living in dif- ferent times,” he told The Post.
The other four damaged churches were Bethel A.M.E. Church, Calvary Baptist Church and Union Baptist Church in Morristown, and Morristown Church of Christ in Morris Township.
Zuri C. Towns, 45, of Morristown, was later arrested and charged with criminal mischief, according to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
Towns had attended one of the churches when he was a minor, authorities said.
All of the churches have predominantly black congregations, and cops initially labeled the attacks bias incidents. But prosecutor Fredric Knapp said that “as a result of the investigation, no evi- dence was obtained that would indicate this was a bias incident, which legally requires purpose to intimidate a person or group based upon their protected class.
“Mr. Towns was served with summons complaints pending a court appearance,’’ he said.
Knapp added that Towns admitted to the vandalism and said he acted alone.
“Detectives were led to the defendant as a result of video obtained from one of the vandalized churches,’’ the prosecutor said.
“Possessing his personal description and that of his clothing, police were able to identify the defendant this morning near his residence, which is in close proximity to several of the churches.”
Security footage shows a man in a hoodie and jacket walking up to Rogers’ church around 6:45 a.m. Saturday and limply tossing a rock at the building’s facade.
“It wasn’t a good throw. He wasn’t a strong guy,” Tahj Valentine, 17, said as he vacuumed up shattered glass before services Sunday. “He side-armed it. He’s obviously not a baseball player.”
Valentine added, “The devil is not going to stop us. But he’s welcome to come here and repent.”
Rogers said he has been monitoring the church’s security footage more closely ever since 26 people were shot dead in a rural Texas church earlier this month.
“We’re not going to let this stop us from worshiping,” he said.