Jesus statue is BEHEADED outside Catholic church in South Florida as archbishop demands stunt is investigated as a hate crime

A statue of Jesus Christ in the courtyard of a South Florida church was beheaded in an act of vandalism now being investigated by the Miami-Dade police and the Department of Homeland Security.

The statue was destroyed between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the courtyard of the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in West Kendall, Florida.

'This is an attack on the church,' Mary Ross Agosta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami, told the Miami Herald. 'This is not only private property, it is sacred property.'

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A statute of Jesus was found beheaded and knocked off its pedestal at The Good Shepherd Catholic Church. The vandalized statue is shown here, moved indoors, after the incident

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A close up view of the decapitated statue head found on the ground outside the church

The statue's head was found on the ground just before 8 am on Wednesday, she said. The statue itself had also been knocked off its pedestal. 

'This is not something you can trip over and say, "Oh, sorry,"' she said. 'Someone did this intentionally.'

She said surveillance video has been handed over to police.

The church's Deacon Edivaldo da Saliva told Local 10 News that even though there are multiple surveillance cameras at the church, none of them were pointed at the exact spot where the statue stood, however. 

Since the incident, the church has hired an overnight security guard.  

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The pedestal where the statue had been standing before it was knocked down shows it was screwed down into place, leading the church to believe the incident wasn't an accident

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The church's Deacon Edivaldo da Saliva (pictured) said the church has security cameras, but none were pointed at exactly where the statue stood

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The Good Shepherd Catholic Church (pictured) has now hired an overnight security guard 

 The Archdiocese of Miami told the news station that its members expect authorities to 'Investigate this desecration as a hate crime.'

'People find peace at these types of places, especially during these times,' police spokesman Argemis Colome told the newspaper. 'We want to ensure the community that MDPD will look into the matter so people can continue to feel safe.'

'This incident has saddened the parish community,' the Good Shepherd church said in a statement, according to Fox News. 'It is too soon to arrive to any conclusion, but we have seen other churches vandalized around the country. We totally "condemn" this action. We invite our community to pray for peace.'

There have been a number of vandalism incidents at Catholic churches over the last week. 

In Ocala, Florida, 24-year-old Steven Anthony Shields was arrested and now faces multiple charges, including attempted murder, after he allegedly rammed his car into a Queen of Peace Catholic Church before setting the building on fire on Saturday. 

The same day, the pastor of St. Stephen Catholic Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee found that a statue of the Virgin Mary had been decapitated. It's head has not yet been located. 

Across the country, in Los Angeles, a 249-year-old Catholic church also caught fire.