‘Hail Satan’ was carved into SC church. Vandals are four teenagers, cops say

A South Carolina Baptist Church had “Hail Satan” carved on to its floor when it was vandalized, police said.

A little more than three weeks after the Welcome Baptist Church was damaged July 7, four vandals were arrested, according to Union County Sheriff David Taylor.

The vandals are teenagers from the Upstate, and three of them are minors, the sheriff reported.

In addition to the satanic scrawling, the teens were arrested for damaging two column posts as well as vinyl siding and a crawl space vent door at the church, Taylor said. They also turned on a water hose, which they left running, and the total estimated cost of the property damaged was $765, the sheriff’s office said.

On Tuesday, 18-year-old Thomas James LaGrange Murphy was arrested and charged with malicious/malicious injury to a place of worship, according to a booking report. His bond was set at $10,000.

Murphy and a 16-year-old who was arrested are Union residents, according to the sheriff’s office, which said two other 16-year-olds were booked on the same charge and are from Spartanburg.

“These types of cases are not easy to solve but (Cpl. Russell) Vinson did an excellent job in solving this case,” Taylor said in a news release.