A man was seen on surveillance cameras vandalizing a Lauderdale Lakes church Wednesday morning, and deputies showed up before he could hurt anyone inside.
Evan Grant, the bishop at the All Nations New Testament Church of God Fellowship, was on his way to church when he got the call. When he showed up, he saw the damage and watched the surveillance video of a man walking around the property and causing havoc.
He believes the man got in by damaging one of their gates.
“When I came and saw it my heart grieved,” Grant said. “This is such an unholy act.”
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Grant said the man shattered seven windows, broke into the church shed and damaged a few doors, causing about $25,000 in damages.
“Why he choose this church? Why you choose this place?” Grant said.
Rev. Hanies Brown and a few other church members were inside fasting when she heard a noise outside. She opened the door and saw the man holding what he used to break the windows. He then said something strange.
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“I said, 'What are you doing here?' He said, 'This house belongs to me,'" Brown said. "I said, 'No, it doesn't belong to you.'"
Brown and the others went to hide and called 911.
“I told one of the ladies, grab our bags and let's get out of here,” Brown said. “The way he was hitting these windows, we thought he was going to come inside. We were terrified.”
Deputies showed up minutes later and arrested the man, who was still on the church property.
The man, identified as 41-year-old Jerry Ordely, was arrested on one count of criminal mischief to a church, one count of burglary to a dwelling structure or conveyance armed, one count of throwing a missile into a dwelling, vehicle or aircraft and two counts of probation violation, authorities said.
Several congregation members spent the night boarding up the windows and cleaning up the shattered glass. Grant said although they don't understand why this happened, they forgive him.
“We still have to pray for him that when he comes out of jail he won't do this to nobody else,” Grant said.
The church feeds the community every Thursday, but they now have to cancel their food distribution this week because of the damage, the glass everywhere, and the ruined food. A GoFundMe was created to help pay for damages.
