FLINT, Texas — A community is left shaken after a beloved Jesus statue was found vandalized outside St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Flint on Sunday morning.

Church leaders say they arrived to find the statue’s nose, wrists, and hands broken off — leaving this sacred symbol damaged.

"It's almost as if you know the Christian faith is being attacked," Smith County Sergeant Larry Christian said.

Surveillance video captured what appeared to be a white man in a black shirt and dark pants or shorts running up to the statue and striking it with a hammer.

For many church members, the sight was heartbreaking.

"There has to be a level of hatred involved for them to go up there and do that sort of thing," Sergeant Christian said.

The sheriff’s office says the suspect could face criminal

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