SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - More than a week before Christmas, a masked arsonist was caught on video setting fire to a religious display outside a North Park home, including a nativity scene.
For Leticia Salcedo, the aftermath is hard to look at. The altar she and her family built two decades ago outside their home on 30th Street has been touched by fire.
“People coming to pray. We also pray,” said Salcedo. “I'm sad. I don't know why people do that.”
Surveillance video shows how the person did it.
Early Friday, just past 3:30 a.m., a masked man wearing a hoodie walks past, and starts dousing the altar with a liquid.
Moments later, he lights what appears to be paper or cloth on fire, before tossing it into the altar, and walking away.
The wooden planks on the altar's right side were burned.
Throughout the altar, the fire would leave its mark, from burned vases to singed plastic flowers.
Salcedo has heard from many who use the altar.
“They are sorry. They are angry. They are sad,” said Salcedo.
But amid the ashes, there was something remarkable in what was not burned.
“Every thing burned, but nothing happens to the Virgins,” said Salcedo.
Untouched by the fire were 4 statues of the Virgin Mary, including the two images of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
“It’s a miracle, a Virgin miracle … when I saw the image, I say, ‘Thank you,’” said Salcedo.
Now, days after the fire, Salcedo has replaced much of the burned wood. She filed a police report, hoping to keep her altar, and her statues safe.
“She wants to say to everyone, ‘I’m here, and I don't want to leave,’” said Salcedo.
Salcedo says items have been stolen from the display, but this is the first fire.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477 or the Metro Arson Strike Team at 619-236-6815.
