Two churches in southern Rowan were vandalized on Saturday, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reports.

The Living Word Spirited Baptist Church, located at 2106 W. C Street, Kannapolis, reported a vandalism occurring sometime between 11:30 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

It was discovered when a deacon of the church stopped by to turn up the heat for the upcoming Sunday services. The left side of the church had been spray painted with pictures and words on the lower half of the building.  The markings were in a variety of colors, and included words such as “Jeezus,” “Satan loves you” and also had pictures of upside down crosses. The cost of the damage was not available at the time of the report.

At St. Enoch Lutheran Church, located 701 Campbell Ave., Kannapolis, the pastor reported that the church fellowship hall had been vandalized by graffiti being spray-painted on the backside of the building. The vandalism occurred sometime between 3 a.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. The markings were in a variety of colors, and included the words such as “Satan loves us,” and several curse words. There were also swastikas and curse words painted on the windows and sidewalk. Damage in this incident was listed as $500.

These two cases appear to have been committed by the same suspect(s). Deputies are continuing the investigation, and would ask anyone with information in this case to contact Deputy Randal Addison at 704-216-8700 or First Lieutenant Chad Moose at 704-216-8687.