St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth held a prayer vigil Sunday afternoon after someone vandalized the church early Sunday morning and tried to start a fire inside.
The church, located near Texas Christian University's campus at 2700 McPherson Avenue, announced on Facebook that Sunday morning services were canceled because of the damage.
Fort Worth police and arson investigators from the fire department spent the morning investigating.
Most of the vandalism targeted the church's education center, which is full of classrooms and offices.
Pastor Fritz Ritsch said furniture was broken and tossed down stairs as rooms were destroyed. Nearly every single window pane was shattered or smashed.
"I was stunned, I am frankly stunned at the damage," Ritsch said. "Apparently they tried to break one of the windows in the sanctuary, but they couldn’t get in. They couldn't break the stained glass windows so that wasn't an issue."
Felicia Fultz is a church member whose young children were supposed to start school Monday, after the holiday break.
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"I don’t to lie to them so I just told them some people did some naughty things to their school and their church and they were pretty upset about it," Fultz said.
It's unclear when the school will reopen.
"For somebody to do something so cruel and hateful and not having any answers is nerve-wracking," Fultz said. Her mother is the director of the education center and came Sunday to find her office torn apart.
"My mom is a really strong person, but I could see past it and see she’s pretty hurt about it," Fultz added.
The full cost of the damage isn't yet known, but arson investigators say it could have been much worse.
Someone also tried to start a fire in the church's kitchen.
Arson investigators are now taking a lead role in the case and said it was lucky the fire was seen and stopped early on.
A church elder checked the church's security system from home early Sunday morning and noticed something was wrong. When he drove to the church, he saw someone running from the building into the woods.
A description of a possible suspect wasn't immediately available. The church does have surveillance cameras and are hoping the vandal or vandals are captured on video.
