Woman accused of shattering church windows with baseball bat

ROCK HILL, S.C. — A woman is accused of shattering windows at a York County church then leading police on a chase Wednesday night.

According to police, 27-year-old Elizabeth Barnes shattered more than a dozen stained glass windows at Catawba Baptist Church in Rock Hill.

They said she also cut the power at the church by smashing a meter box, which triggered the alarm -- alerting police.

When officers got to the scene, they said they found Barnes parked behind another church across the street. She is then accused of leading them on a short chase, but was stopped at an Interstate-77 exit ramp.

According to police, Barnes had church property and a baseball bat in her car.

Ron Richardson has been pastor at the church for more than 13 years. He told Channel 9′s South Carolina bureau reporter Greg Suskin that nothing like this has happened to his church in decades.

“She could have gone from church to church and done a lot of damage,” he said. “So, I’m grateful that we had an alarm and it went off and the deputies came so quickly.”

Members of the church got together Thursday to help clean up the damage. Many could be seen fixing windows and picking up shattered stained glass, including some that was more than 60 years old.

Doug Jolly has been a member for 27 years.

“It’s really disturbing to see people who would just attack a church, for no reason,” Jolly said.

He spent hours sawing up plywood to cover shattered windows at multiple buildings on the church campus. Others worked to replace metal frames and pick up shards of stained glass. More than a dozen windows were broken.

Instead of being angry with Barnes, Richardson said he will be praying for her.

“I’m not sure what’s going on in her life, but we certainly need to be praying for her and encouraging her in any way we can,” he said.

The church also runs a day camp with about 60 kids. All those parents had to be called Thursday morning and told it was canceled because there was glass everywhere and it wasn’t safe.

Deputies haven’t released a motive for the crime or said what specific property was taken from the church. The pastor didn’t think it was much, but the damage was significant.

Barnes has been charged with burglary and malicious damage to property.

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