El Paso Police have arrested a 30-year-old man on Tuesday morning accusing him of decapitating a statue of Jesus at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Isaiah Cantrell has allegedly broken into the church and approached the historic statue behind the main altar.
He then attacked the 90-year-old sculpture because its skin color was wrong, he told investigators.
“Jesus was Jewish and therefore should be darker skin color,” he reportedly said.
Photos of the destroyed statue were shared by the Diocese of El Paso show its figure smashed into pieces and arm broken off.
“I am in shock and we at the Cathedral are heartbroken over such an unexpected situation,” St. Patrick Rector Father Trini Fuentes said.
“As sad as I am to see a statue attacked and destroyed, I am grateful that it was not a living person,” Bishop Mark Seitz said.
“But a statue, particularly this statue, concretizes and connects us to persons and ideals that are not visible to our eyes. They reveal to us realities that are close to us, but unseen.”
