St. Louis man facing charges after using construction equipment to damage statue at Cathedral Basilica

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A 35-year-old man faces charges after he allegedly tampered with construction equipment and used it to damage a statue at the Cathedral Basilica.

Christopher Jaros,35, was charged by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Office Wednesday with two counts of first degree property damage, one count each for first degree tampering, unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest, and institutional vandalism.

All charges are felonies and all were issued. He is being held in-custody on no bond.

At 8 p.m. Tuesday night, officers were dispatched to the Cathedral Basilica after reports of a man tampering with construction equipment. When officers arrived, they found a boom lift had been dropped onto the Angel of Harmony statue at the cathedral.

A female witness tells KMOX she saw it happen from her apartment across the street from the cathedral and notified police.

"It sounded like a car was getting towed or like a dump truck dumping a bunch of stuff," said the witness. "We didn't think much of it, but it went on for like five minutes."

"So finally we looked outside and the (boom lift) was just ramming straight through (the statue) over and over."

The police department says that they were able to identify Jaros through video surveillance and detectives were able to spot him in the Central West End, but Jaros took off running.

Detectives established a perimeter and were able to find Jaros and arrest him at the intersection of Euclid and Maryland with the help of a K9.

Police say they also believe the suspect fired a shot into an unoccupied car.