Vandals Target Ogden Church Multiple Times Over Past Month
May 31, 2021, 10:09 PM | Updated: Jul 5, 2023, 5:41 pm
OGDEN, Utah — Leaders of a church in Ogden said they were hoping someone would be able to identify a group of vandals caught on video breaking the windows of their building.
Surveillance cameras captured the group early Sunday morning as they appeared to throw rocks at the front windows and door of The Potter’s House Christian Center, located at 2873 Quincy Avenue.
“We hadn’t even got a chance to replace it yet before they destroyed all the other windows,” said assistant pastor Austin Schmidt. “This is the third time these windows have been broken out.”
Schmidt said vandals have targeted the church thee times over the past month, beginning on April 25.
“We had a wedding that day and we showed up to the church — all of our windows were smashed out, branches inside the church, chairs from across the park,” Schmidt said.
The assistant pastor said the church installed surveillance cameras after that day.
Instead of acting as a deterrent, the cameras captured groups of vandals hitting the church two more times on May 19 and May 30.
“They actually knew we had surveillance cameras and they pointed to them, they mentioned them, and yet stood right in front of them and threw the rocks blatantly at the windows without really any regard,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said in the videos from the two most recent cases, it appeared at least one of the vandals was the same.
He acknowledged he didn’t know why the church was being vandalized repeatedly.
“We were wondering if it was a common thing happening around the neighborhood, schools or other churches or businesses, but it does seem to be just ours and just these windows,” Schmidt said. “We’re not sure why we’ve become a target, but we’re hoping it’s just some young people (who are) bored or something like that.”
Schmidt said Ogden Police Department was investigating.
Anybody with information was asked to call them at 801-395-8221.
