After a Catholic school in Southeast Wrigley was ransacked in February, thousands of community members helped raise more than $300,000 to defray costs for extensive repairs. Nearly three months later, they’re still mending damage, but an outpouring of support has eased their task.
When the staff of Holy Innocents School first walked onto the campus after the break-in, they were met with horrifying scene: holy statues smashed, bibles strewn on the floor and covered in urine, tabernacle defaced, cabinets and curtains ripped down, audiovisual equipment torn from closets — vandals had left a trail of destruction in the school’s assembly hall, chapel and classrooms that surprised even police detectives, school staff recalled. Restoring and securing the campus has already cost nearly half a million dollars, according to Tony Tripp, director of advancement.
Immediately after the incident, staff members said they were in a state of shock, yet they swiftly undertook basic repairs to begin using the space and holding Mass. Within two weeks, intruders broke in again — entering through a window and stealing instruments, microphones and small items. A spokesperson for the Long Beach Police Department said they are still investigating and have no suspects.
The second burglary signalled to school staff that they needed to bolster the school’s security. They installed a high-tech security system, remote cameras, alley lighting and custom wrought iron fences — in addition to hiring a security team. Tripp hopes this will assuage the fears of the sisters, who have been sleeping at a different convent some nights, out of fear of attempted break-ins.
There’s also been significant progress to replace structures and educational and religious items that were stolen or desecrated. The school now boasts a new stage and curtains, overhead lights and air conditioning (the system had been shorted when the burglars tore out the assembly hall’s wiring, making for a “sweaty” Lenten service, Tripp said). Contractors have offered the school price breaks, and parents have pitched in to help the sisters remake religious articles, like hand-painted dolls, he said.
Some fixes will take longer. The school doors are still damaged and will need a full replacement, impossible until the summer, Tripp said. A company from Spain has offered to fabricate a new tabernacle.
Repairing statues of the Virgin Mary requires meticulous work. Ash Avila of A Mano Art & Design, a specialized art company in Dana Point, said one statue is completely destroyed from the waist up: “There’s no upper half of her.” Avila is trying to salvage as many statue shards as she can, but some will need to be reconstructed from scratch, a process that will take months, she said.
Despite all the disruption, “the kids are super duper resilient,” Tripp said. Just weeks after the vandalism, the school’s senior class had an audience with Pope Leo XIV. Tripp recalled that his students said, “We need to pray for who did this.”
Repairs will help the school community heal from the “constant reminder” of what happened, Tripp said, referring to the remaining damage as “scars.”
He hopes to have the campus in order in time for the school’s gala in October. “We’re using that as a thank you to all the people that restored the spot,” he said. After that, the school staff can turn their attention to a long-awaited expansion that will increase the school’s capacity from 300 to 500 and include a new midcentury modern building to match Holy Innocents’ existing architectural style.