SEE IT: Bayside Church Vandalized With MS-13 Graffiti

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — The NYPD's hate crimes task force is investigating after a vandal sprayed "MS-13" next to the entrance of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Bayside over the weekend.

An anonymous vandal sprayed "MS-13" on both sides of the church's entrance about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, according to NYPD Sergeant Jessica McRorie, a spokesperson for the department. The Diocese of Brooklyn released surveillance footage of the vandalism Tuesday.

Someone also sprayed "MS" on the Sacred Heart Catholic Academy of Bayside across the street from the church, though it's unclear whether the same person was responsible.

Police haven't yet arrested anyone in connection with the graffiti, according to the NYPD spokesperson.

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"My initial reaction when I heard about the vandalism was that I didn’t know what to expect. I thought maybe windows were broken or our nativity had been vandalized and so in a sense, I was relieved that the damage to the Church was not more significant," Monsignor Thomas Machalski, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Roman Catholic Church, said in a statement Tuesday.

"To the perpetrator, I would encourage them to find something more constructive to do with their time and energy, because the time they wasted on doing something like this, could be spent doing something good," he added.

Machalski told The Tablet he didn't believe the church was targeted because an MS-13 tag was also found sprayed on a white fence at a residential property nearby.

A police spokesperson confirmed to Patch that the NYPD received a report about that incident and said no one has been arrested for it.

MS-13 is the name commonly used to refer to the street gang Mara Salvatrucha, which was founded by immigrants from El Salvador and is responsible for more than two dozen killings on Long Island since 2016, federal authorities have said.

But law enforcement officials said last month that a bust of nearly 100 members and associates on Long Island has effectively "decimated" the gang's presence there, according to The New York Times.