Cornerstone Church vandalized; pastor finds broken window and bird carcass

The Cornerstone Church in downtown Fresno was vandalized on Halloween and someone also left a dead bird carcass — a symbol of the occult, said pastor Jim Franklin.

The glass window of the ticket office was smashed, possibly with a hammer, Franklin said Wednesday. The church is in the Wilson Theater at Stanislaus and Fulton streets.

On the side of the building by the door that Franklin uses to enter the church, someone left a pair of wings from a dead pigeon, connected to each other by a bloody bone.

“I used to teach occult-related crime to law enforcement in Oklahoma, so I recognized it,” Franklin said.

The wings are called “flying spirit bird,” he said.

“It’s kind of a sign that someone is saying ‘We are watching you,’ “ he said.

He doesn’t know who did it or why, but it’s not going to stop the church’s normal activities, he said, including a trick or treat event Wednesday evening.

“We’ve been vandalized before,” Franklin said.

He noted that he has been at Cornerstone for 25 years and a celebratory anniversary event is set for Sunday, but it’s unclear if the vandalism occurred because of that, Halloween, or any other reason.

This story was originally published October 31, 2018 at 6:05 PM.