'Breaks my heart': Portland church searching for temporary home after vandalization

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Leaders at the Bethel Baptist Church of St. Johns are looking for a new place to worship after they say a weekend vandal broke in and sprayed fire extinguishers throughout all three floors of the church, leaving behind thick dust and chemicals on every open surface.

Four of the church's seven fire extinguishers were used to deface the property.
      
This isn't the first time the church has been broken into. But church secretary Mary Brown says that the damage from this break-in is harder to deal with.

"You don't really realize how much of it until you get in here and you start looking around and it's just, everywhere," she said.

"No house of worship should be desecrated. It's sad," added Sheldon Hall, whose mother is deacon of the church. "It breaks my heart because this is a small, elderly congregation. And they're not really up for asking for help. They're not really wanting sympathy, and I think they deserve it."

Brown says she called 311 to file a police report but hasn't received a call back from Portland police.

"I've tried waiting on the phone, which is a long wait. And I've also tried to do it online, and I got timed out, because you're only allowed 30 minutes," she said. "We've been hit enough, and this is serious enough. We need a police report. I need it on record."

KOIN 6 reached out to Portland police, who said they didn't see a call out to the church over the weekend, therefore they aren't aware of it -- which is likely because there wasn't a police report filed.

Hall and his son put together a GoFundMe for the church.