MILWAUKEE -- Cleanup began Thursday morning at a south side church tagged with graffiti this week.
Pastor Andrew Nyren, of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church on Howell Avenue, said someone vandalized the church with red graffiti sometime between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
He found out about the vandalism when employees at the church's daycare operation arrived at work Wednesday.
"They called me up and just told me what was here," Nyren said.
On Thursday, professional cleaners used a high powered compressor to blast soda water at the building in the hopes of clearing off the graffiti.
The cleaners said the method often leaves some faded spots on brick or other materials, so they may have to eventually blast the whole structure to even out the look.
Water was used to keep dust generated by the cleaning process from spreading throughout the neighborhood.
Nyren said he hopes his congregation can now move on from the unpleasant incident.
"Churches are just kind of a target for things good and bad, from people who've got things going on in their lives," he said.
The pastor has no idea who would've vandalized the church.
"Whoever did it, we'll pray for them," Nyren said. "We hope that whatever's going on in their life, that they get some help and also hope this doesn't happen again to us or anyone else."
He said insurance should cover the bulk of the cleaning costs, but the church will have to pay a roughly $1,000 deductible.
Nyren also said the parish might consider increased security measures in the wake of the vandalism.
"With this happening, we may look into just a really basic (surveillance) camera system or something like that," he said.
