SANTA BARBARA (KRON/CNN) — A statue of a Catholic saint was vandalized in Santa Barbara.
The statue of St. Junipero Serra was found splattered with simulated blood all over it.
The statue is currently covered to keep the graphic scene from the view of visitors.
Santa Barbara police were called out.
Two officers, including a crime scene investigator, saw the damage and took pictures when the cover was briefly pulled off.
The mission has security cameras, but it remains a welcoming site around the clock, without a fenced-off area at the front of the landmark structure.
“But we try not to keep it too guarded because it is open to the community and visitors from all over the world, but we do want to keep the Friars, our staff, and the public safe,” Mission Executive Director Monica Orozco said.
This isn’t the first time a statue of this saint was targeted by vandals.
Last year, a St. Junipero Serra statue was decapitated in Carmel.
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