Words of hatred greeted Pastor Sung Ho Jang on the morning of May 26. “God Hates Asians” were some of the words dabbed in ink on the carpet of the Orlando Central Korean Seventh-day Adventist Church, along with an obscene ethnic slur.

According to media reports, vandals also poured engine oil over the copy machine, opened file cabinets, and rifled through tithe envelopes. No money was reported stolen; the only item missing from the church was a camera stored in Jang’s office.

The 200-member congregation has received an outpouring of support from the local community, Jang said in a telephone interview with ANN.

“We have received many cards and letters, and some [donation] checks,” Jang said. “Some people have stopped by” to offer encouragement, he added, noting that such attacks are rare: “Such a thing has never happened in this area,” he said.

The incident, which caused a fair amount of property damage, was unsettling to Jang and members of the congregation. The consequences for whoever vandalized the church could be extremely severe, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper reports.

The attack is being investigated as a hate crime said Seminole County sheriff Lt. Dennis Lemma. The paper also quoted Art Teitelbaum, southern-area director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, as saying that the state has some of the toughest hate-crime laws in the nation. Florida also has a house-of-worship protection act, which makes any vandalism there a third-degree felony.