Pepe goes postal

On October 28, 2001, just six weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al Qaeda, a self-styled Muslim fundamentalist from Egypt, Emad Ibrahim Saad, decapitated the Virgin Mary statute at the church, cut a hand off the church's statute of St. Rita, and cut off a bronze statue of Father Junipero Serra at the feet, taking the Father Serra statue with him and leaving it at the nearby King Fahd Mosque. Saad also scattered at the church Muslim magazines and fliers stating, "Allah is the only true God." Saad had appeared at the church the previous week, distributing Muslim leaflets before being asked to leave. On discovering the statue of Father Serra, an official at the mosque notified police. Saad was convicted in June 2002 under hate crime laws and sentenced to five years in prison.