South Carolina, man, Charles Short, uses sledgehammer to decapitate Jesus statue
A South Carolina man has been arrested after beheading a concrete statue of Jesus on Sunday. Charles Jeffrey Short was seen using a sledgehammer to decapitate the statue at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Charlesston, South Carolina.
Short, 38, was arrested after the incident, confessing his crimes, noting that the Bible justified his actions.“I think I used a sledgehammer to strike the status about six or seven time, because the second or first commandment states to not make an image of a male or female to be on display to the public,” Short told authorities.
The man is referring to Exodus 20:4 which reads, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
Witness told police that Short was seen around 5:45 at the Charleston church. The Sacred Heart Catholic Church had reported another act of vandalism two days prior when a marble statue worth about $5,000 had been damaged.
During that attack the hands and two heads had been “hacked off” that statute. That statue featured Jesus and a child, but beheaded.
Authorities are now investigating a connection between the crimes.
A church spokesperson says the six-foot statue represents Christ’s love for humanity. They decided to cover the statue with a large cloth or tarpfor the time being.
Police found a Kobalt sledgehammer in his backpack and white residue, presumably the powder from the stone staute. Short was being held Monday on $2,130 bail, charged with malicious injury to real property.
The Post and Courier noted that man’s only previous arrest according to the State Law Enforcement Division: “Police in Forest Acres near Columbia charged him in 2009 with simple assault and malicious injury to personal property, but a judge acquitted him in a trial.”
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