Repentant Teen Confesses to Smashing Image of Mary

In Clearwater, FL...



From Tampabay: Teen held in Virgin Mary smashing:



"Angry, bored and unable to sleep, Kyle Maskell grabbed his Marksman slingshot and headed out of his foster home to destroy something that might bring him a degree of infamy that rivaled his rage, police said.



He soon looked up into the image of the Virgin Mary, the iridescent figure that had formed on the side of a glass building on U.S. 19 eight years earlier, drawing throngs of believers to Clearwater.



Maskell reached into the pouch of his slingshot and launched three or four ball bearings, striking the image's top three panes, police said. People who showed up hours later found the virgin beheaded.



That's the story Clearwater police say Maskell, an 18-year-old Clearwater High School sophomore, told them Monday morning before they arrested him on a charge of felony criminal mischief. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail Monday night in lieu of $10,000 bail.



Police said the teen cried for three hours while recounting his deed. The guilt had eaten at him for more than two months."