Police say they have arrested 30-year-old Randy Maldonado-Avila, of Flatbush, on several charges for defacing the statues and destroying windows at St. Dominic's Roman Catholic Church on Bay Ridge Parkway.

According to investigators, Avila took a hammer to both the Mother Theresa and Pope John XXIII statues leaving them with gaping holes. The church says he also damaged their windows, forcing them to be boarded up.​

The church has since covered the statues in red cloth as they wait for them to be fixed. They say they are trying to end the message of hate.

Avila has been charged with criminal mischief, criminal possession of a weapon as well as damaging traffic signals and bus stops in the same area as the Bensonhurst church.