AJAX, ONTARIO - Vandals overturned equipment, punched holes in walls and spray painted messages with racial and religious undertones on a church building near Toronto.

Police were treating the early December attack as a hate crime and met with church members to assure them they would investigate it fully, according to the Toronto Star. At press time, police had not made an arrest.

The act of vandalism was “pretty sad and pretty scary business — especially the hate graffiti spray painted on the inside walls,” said Walter Straker, a member of the Bramalea Church of Christ who has visited the Ajax church.

Mack Porter, who has worked with the congregation for 30 years, said that the church canceled its Dec. 4 services. Police sent a work crew to clean the facility a few days later, and on Dec. 8 church members repaired the damaged walls.

“This is the first time something like this has happened to one of our buildings or congregations,” Straker said.