LOGAN, Utah — The Logan Tabernacle owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was vandalized over the weekend.

The white doors of the Western entrance of the building were spray painted with a vulgar message about the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, and obscene images were painted above the doors.

The Logan City Police Department received a report about the incident shortly before 10 a.m. on Sunday.

As of Monday morning, Capt. Curtis Hooley of the Logan City Police Department said there wasn’t any video footage of potential suspects.

“We typically assign this type of stuff — the graffiti stuff — to our school resource officers,” he said. “Most of the time it’s usually of that age group.”

Hooley said whoever vandalized the building did so while there was a chain-link fence surrounding it. Several signs affixed to the fence make it clear no trespassing is permitted.

Alexandra Chanson, a Logan native who doesn’t belong to the church, believes the act doesn’t just strike at the religious institution, but also hits the center of the community the tabernacle belongs to.

“It clearly cuts to the heart of what is important to so many people in this valley,” Chanson said.

Brady Henderson was one of the contractors the church hired to clean the graffiti — a task he undertook Monday afternoon.

“Destruction in general isn’t good,” he said, “anyplace or anywhere.”

Henderson found it frustrating to be cleaning up the mess someone intentionally left.

“Starting to see it more and more,” Henderson said, regarding the graffiti. “Not usually front and center downtown, though.”

He said the act left him “disappointed and annoyed.”

“It’s not even like a creative inflammation, it’s kind of just a way to say something that every Mormon in Utah’s heard,” Chanson said. “I guess I’m a little bit surprised and shocked.”

The Tabernacle is undergoing seismic upgrades and various renovations that are expected to take place over several months. The process to improve the building’s structural integrity while maintaining its character began in September of 2021.