Reward offered in racist church vandalism

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT)- The FBI and Richmond Police Department are now offering a reward for any information that can lead to an arrest in a vandalism case from?eight months ago.

The beautiful brick walls and doorways of the Southampton Baptist Church were plastered with heinous graffiti last October. Vandals used several different cans of spray paint;?black, red, and purple. The images were disturbing, especially for neighborhood walkers like Jessica Parrish who remembers how bad it looked.

"It definitely was hard to see?it was pretty ugly and disturbing, I didn't really appreciate it because it is a safe and quiet neighborhood and it was kind of shocking to see something like that happen," said Parrish.

People in the neighborhood all knew about the graffiti and how bad it was except for Chris Haas who just moved in across the street from the church two months ago.

"It's probably one of the prettiest churches in this area?anybody that would paint anything like that, especially on a church, they need to get what's coming to them," said Haas.

The reward is?of up to $2,500 for information that would help police catch whoever did this.

"I really hope they find who did it hopefully the reward will find somebody with information it would be nice to see some closure," said Parrish.

"I hope they catch who ever did it, I'd be glad to help catch them," said Haas.

If you think you know anyone who may have been spray painting the walls of this church last October, call Crime Stoppers at 780-1000. You can remain anonymous.

Copyright 2012 WWBT NBC12.? All rights reserved.

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