Sheriff's Office Investigates Hate Crime Against North Highlands Church
NORTH HIGHLANDS (CBS13) — The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office is investigating a hate crime after messages of hate were plastered on a North Highlands Church, left for church members to see.
Reverend Dr. Carieta Cain Grizzell, Pastor at Muph-Emmanuel AME church believes someone climbed onto the church's roof to write threatening messages including; "Kill um' all", racial slurs, and the letters KKK. All the messages were written on their air conditioning units and can be seen from the ground at the predominately African American church.
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"It's horrible and very troubling with the present climate that we are in right now and all of the hateful things that people are doing and saying," said Reverend Cain Grizzell.
Cameras did not catch the vandalism. While the church is currently not holding in-person services due to COVID-19 precautions, they believe the vandalism happened in the past two weeks. Reverend Cain Grizzell said the church's security company registered activity on the nights of June 24 and 30.
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"We don't hate anyone. We welcome anyone to come here," she said.
The church was targeted back in June of 2016 when a person wrote a racial slur on their door. It's now working to find ways to erase the hate on their roof. Reverend Cain Grizzell is praying the church can raise money with the help of the community to pay for additional security. The fund would be used to purchase outdoor lighting, additional cameras, and a fence to keep threats out.
"It's unfortunate that this had to happen in a church where we have to be concerned about threats of violence because we want to be welcoming so that anybody can come," she said.
The Reverend has preached for decades and said her sermon to the person responsible is simply a message of forgiveness.
"God is love and God wants us to love each other no matter what," she said.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office is investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.
