Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do?
While hymns echoed through St. Mark’s Church in Venice on Sunday, surveillance cameras caught a troubled teen stealing donuts and the money box from the courtyard.
The teen, believed to be connected with Safe Place for Youth and living in a Venice Community Housing apartment, strolled onto the church grounds and sifted through the tables outside until he found what he was looking for.
When calls to the police went unanswered, Father Albert van der Woerd took matters into his own hands and went to the Pacific Division to file a report in person.
Trouble is a familiar shadow in this area. Just last week, a violent Venice resident allegedly wielded a samurai sword, nearly severing another man’s arm and leaving neighbors reeling at the bloody aftermath.
The attacker was identified as resident Justin Tucker by the Venice Housing Corporation — the non-profit that provides low-income housing to the neighborhood’s young inhabitants.
Safe Place for Youth provides immediate support for people ages 12-25 experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Co-executive directors Erika Lee & Allison Riley said the agency is cooperating with police. “We take safety concerns seriously,” they said.
Both incidents unfolded against a backdrop of rising violence in Venice — now a hotspot for crime and chaos in a neighborhood both blighted and out of reach for most.