PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) – A house of worship in Peoria was vandalized and burglarized Tuesday.
The Chinese Christian Church was broken into around 3 a.m. Tuesday. Two male burglars stole three TVs, damaged a microphone and sprayed the fire extinguisher all over the church.
“It’s shocking. I’m so disappointed because this is God’s house… nobody should do things like this to a church…There’s residuals on everywhere. Tables, carpets, chairs, all the electronic equipment,” said church member Lifeng Wang.
But it’s not the first time the church has been attacked. There was an arson in 2014 followed by burglary in 2021. Wang said they installed security cameras after the 2021 burglary.
“I thought this would deter those guys away when they realize we have security camera,” said Wang.
But it didn’t.
As shown in the security footage, burglars filmed themselves spraying the fire extinguisher all over the church.
Wang said they won’t be able to hold services for weeks. To add insult to injury, he said they even stole popsicles from the kitchen and left the wrappers behind.
“We won’t be able to use the facility for two to three weeks before we can clean it…caused a lot of damage, caused a lot of stress to the people,” he said.
The church is nestled in a neighborhood off Alta Rd. in North Peoria.
Church elder Libin Mou wondered if that’s why the church was targeted.
“Maybe people are taking advantage of this place, its kind of isolated,” he said.
Mou said he wants the burglars held responsible.
“We can forgive those people but definitely cannot tolerate those actions, and they should be held accountable,” he said.
Wang said the church is holding a virtual elder meeting 7 p.m. on Friday to inform members about what happened. He said the congregation is about 60 people strong.
“We are like a family. We do a lot of things together in addition to worship on Sunday.”
Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins released the security footage on Friday. He said the burglars videotaped themselves on social media and implored the public for help.
“Somebody knows who did this, we want them to turn themselves in,” he said.
Watkins said its too early to tell if it’s a hate crime.