Burglars Strike at Christ King Church

Just what do you say about somebody who breaks into a church... on the Fourth of July... and brings along a sledgehammer?

Police were called Tuesday morning to Christ King Church, 2646 Swan Blvd., one of the city's leading religious institutions, to investigate a reported burglary that must have occurred some time since Sunday.

A maintenance man reported that he had arrived early Tuesday and found an outer door and a number of inner doors propped or wedged open and lights on that shouldn’t have been. There were pry marks and gouges around several of the door latches.

The church office had been broken into and ransacked, but the real target was a 5-foot-tall steel safe that had been turned on its back and bashed in with a sledgehammer.

Officers estimated that the heavy-duty “gun-type” safe had been struck at least 75 times, buckling the door and finally breaking the lock.

Cash kept in the safe was the only thing taken in the burglary. Police have asked Patch not to disclose the amount of money taken in such burglaries.

Because of the targeting of the safe and the fact that a tool was carried in capable of breaching a safe, police questioned church staff about former employees, but got no strong leads.

Restaurant hit in same time frame

The owner of , 7203 W. North Ave. reported that at some time since 3 p.m. Sunday, someone had broken into the restaurant and stolen money from the cash register.

He said he had arrived at 9:20 a.m. Tuesday to find the register drawer on the floor and a trail of coins leading to the back door, which had been pried open.

Police found no evidence that would lead to the identification of a suspect.

Although in both burglaries only cash was taken, even though computer equipment and other items were in plain view and not stolen, there was no real indication that they were in any way related.