Layton police Lt. Quinn Moyes said someone used a BB gun to shoot out windows or glass doors at four LDS buildings throughout the city. Three of them happened sometime between 10 p.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday, with churchgoers finding the shattered glass that morning. The fourth Layton church was reported vandalized early Monday.
In Ogden, Lt. Scott Sangberg said an LDS Church building also had a 6-foot-by-4-foot sheet of glass broken from the front door early Sunday morning, but he did not know whether it was done using a BB gun. The door had been boarded up for Sunday church services when police arrived Monday to investigate, Sangberg said.
Sangberg said on Tuesday that it was unclear whether the vandals in Ogden targeted the church. That's because a woman a couple blocks away reported that a window on her home also was shot out.
The Layton crimes caused a combined $2,800 in damage, while the Ogden damage was estimated at $1,000.
Damages in South Ogden and Sandy likely will be similar.
Sandy Sgt. Justin Chapman said police got a call Monday night around 8:30 p.m. reporting that the front window of a ward house at 11570 S. Wasatch Blvd. had been shot out either by a BB gun or an airsoft gun. But police have not been able to contact the caller who reported the vandalism.
While Chapman knew of the identical instances at churches up north in Ogden and Layton, he said Sandy police were not yet working with other agencies to investigate the crime.
"We haven't taken a report on it," Chapman said. "We need more information from the complainant. If there was more information, obviously we would want to get that so we can get going."
Chapman said the Sandy incident could be something as simple as a teenage prank, even though he acknowledged the timing matches up with the controversy over California's Proposition 8. The LDS Church has seen a lot of backlash, including protests at LDS temples in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, for its support of the "Yes" vote, which won a California-wide vote, effectively banning same-sex marriage in that state.
"We're not looking at that link now," Chapman said. "We may or may not when we get more information."
Moyes said Layton police likewise are not treating the incidents as hate crimes.
"We have not labeled it a hate crime until we can find some hard evidence to substantiate it," Moyes said.
Said Moyes: "People say, 'It's gotta be Proposition 8.' We can think that, but until we have evidence to lead us that direction, we're not terming it a hate crime."
Layton police recovered BBs, but no agency reported having any suspects or leads to follow at this point.
