Police: Melbourne church vandalism a 'hate crime'

A day after a predominantly black church was vandalized for the third time in six months, Melbourne police described the actions as a hate crime and said they would offer an unspecified cash reward for information leading to an arrest.

The decision to declare it a hate crime was made after police administrators reviewed information in the latest case in which someone ransacked a portion of New Shiloh Christian Church and left "SS Charleston 2" scrawled on the side of a pickup truck with smashed windows.

Police believe the 'Charleston 2' reference may be alluding to the massacre of nine churchgoers at Emanuel AME in Charleston last month.

"This, in correlation with the other criminal mischief incidents, and based on the totality of the incidents, we're believing it is a hate crime," said Cmdr. Dan Lynch of the Melbourne Police Department during a press conference called Monday afternoon.

"There were multiple suspects," Lynch added, saying the department has a "team of detectives scouring the area."

Already this year the church – which has two locations in Melbourne and 1,500 members – has been hit three times by vandalism, including an arson and a swastika scrawled on a storage unit and a spray-painted noose, that Melbourne police previously ruled out as a hate crime and attributed to juveniles.

No arrests have been made.

Story continues below

With the last incident involving graffiti – from the noose to an upside down cross - being left on a church van, Melbourne police contacted the FBI but it was unclear what role the federal agency played in the investigation.

This time, police say they are contacting both the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to assist with portions of the case.

Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon said she was "relieved," at the move by police to recognize the acts of vandalism as more serious than mischief.

"This is good but I'll feel relief when we have some concrete answers. Maybe now the (police) will get to the bottom of this…maybe this madness will end," said Gordon, who is working to secure funds to upgrade security measures at the 125,000 square-foot church located in an industrial area off Sarno Road. To date, more than $10,000 in damages have been caused by the vandals.

"We're asking if there is anyone out there who can help us to secure that side of our campus. The vandals actually brought axes to chop through our access points to get in. This is not under the rug anymore. You don't want a repeat of what happened in Charleston," she told FLORIDA TODAY.

Police say they also spotted multiple shoe prints left behind in the dust left by fire extinguishers. Church members - who also reported a large bronze eagle missing - found the damage shortly before the first Sunday service.

Monday, for the first time since the incidents began in February, a detective called Gordon to talk about the case. The failure by detectives to contact Gordon was a "miscommunication" that will be part of the investigation into the vandalism, said Lynch without further elaboration.

Gordon said that she has also been contacted by other faith leaders offering prayers and support.

Lynch said that Melbourne Police Chief Steve Mimbs, who has not publicly commented about the hate crimes, was aware of the incidents.

"He is disgusted by these acts and authorized the detectives to do what they can to bring in suspects," Lynch said.

"We will definitely put more patrols out there," he said.

Contact Gallop at 321-242-3642, jdgallop@floridatoday.com, or Twitter@JDGallop