VIDEO: Vandal rips down, smashes statue of Virgin Mary at NYC church in broad daylight

Statue smashing has become all the rage in the country today. And in New York the movement to attack monuments has claimed another treasured icon.

Destroying statues of the Founding Fathers, Christopher Columbus, and Jesus wasn't enough. Now someone decided to pick on a lady.

Brooklyn cops are looking for a man caught on camera tearing down a statue of the Virgin Mary a week ago just outside Shrine Church of Our Lady of Solace in Coney Island, WCBS-TV reported Friday.

What happened?

Security footage shows a man climbing a fence outside the church on Sept. 11 and crawling up the house of worship's outdoor religious shrine.

Image source: WCBS-TV video screenshot

The vandal can be seen rocking the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe back and forth until he is able to dislodge from its perch.

He then tosses the statue over the fence and onto the public sidewalk.

Image source: WCBS-TV video screenshot

All of this was done in broad morning daylight as people looked on.

The hoodlum's actions mashed the face of the statue, destroyed the base, and broke off the hands of the Blessed Mother.

The church told WCBS that the statue is worth $4,000 and now it must buy a new one.

One witness, Sara Marerro, a Coney Island resident, told the outlet, "Who knows mentally what's going on with that person in that moment, but you don't do stuff like that."

Another unnamed witness, whose face is blurred out in the video, reportedly got into a fight with the vandal after the statute was toppled and tried to fix it, but to no avail, Marerro said.

Image source: WCBS-TV video screenshot

The Diocese of Brooklyn is, naturally, upset.

John Quaglione, who is with the diocese, called the vandalism a "direct assault" on the faith of people who might have wanted to have a moment of prayer.

"To attack the Blessed Mother on the day of 9/11 in the morning in broad daylight is not only brazen, but it is a direct assault on the faith of the people that were walking by that day wanted to have a moment of prayer to themselves, wanted to remember someone they may have lost," Quaglione said.

Asked what she felt led to the statue being torn down, Marerro said, "They were drunk."