Early Monday morning, vandals completely trashed a youth center at a local church in Brevard County, causing thousands in damage.
- Grace Fellowship youth center in Rockledge vandalized
- Music equipment destroyed, walls and doors damaged
“They lifted it up, reached down in, and opened the door,” Grace Fellowship youth pastor Joel Hopkins explained.
Hopkins found the Grace Fellowship youth center in Rockledge trashed around 7 a.m. when her arrived at the church.
Expensive music equipment was destroyed. There were bashed-in doors, graffiti on the walls, and many of the rooms just torn apart.
“The fact that they trashed everything the youth center uses the most seems to have a focus in mind. That just makes me wonder if they were trying to send a message,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins voiced his concern that possibly a disgruntled teen who had once attended the youth group could have caused the damage. Even Rockledge police agreed it was a strange case in that nothing turned up stolen.
“It was a very malicious break-in, it wasn’t to steal something as much as it was to just cause damage,” Lt. Donna Seyferth with Rockledge Police said.
Now the youth center is left to pick up the pieces. They estimate the damage could total a few thousand dollars But in the end they said they just hope something good can come out of all of this.
“It is a bummer to have a lot of our stuff trashed and broken, but like we’ve mentioned this youth group exists because want to help bring people to jesus. So hopefully we will see some good come out of this and find a way to better secure our building,” Hopkins said.
Police are investigating. If you have any information, they ask you call the Rockledge Police Department.
Music equipment damaged at the Grace Fellowship Youth Center in Rockledge. (News 13)
Graffiti at the Grace Fellowship youth center. (News 13)