SAN LEANDRO — The shooting of a religious status outside St. Felicitas Catholic Church brought sadness and prayers Sunday for the person suspected of committing the act.

Parishioners gathered at the church for a Sunday worship service looked at the damage to the statue of the church’s namesake, St. Felicitas, an early Christian martyr, according to the website of the Orthodox Church in America. Police say the statue, located on church grounds at 1650 Manor Blvd., was hit by eight bullets just after 2 p.m.

Police on Saturday arrested a man in the incident whom they have yet to identify and said they are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

“It’s very sacred for us,” pastor Thomas Khue said Sunday. “We should respect and honor that.”

The shooting didn’t injure anyone, but a police spokesman said officers struggled with the man when he was taken into custody. He’s in his mid-30s, police said.

“We are investigating this act of vandalism as a hate crime. There is simply no place and no excuse for vandalism aimed at a place of worship in our society,” Lt. Ted Henderson of the San Leandro police said.

The suspect had not been interviewed Saturday night, and a motive for the alleged crime was not yet known. Henderson said he thinks it was “an isolated incident. We have no information or evidence that there are any additional threats directed at the church or (its) congregation.”

“We respect everyone’s religion,” churchgoer Maria Jimenez said. “People that don’t believe in anything shouldn’t do things like this.”

In a telephone interview Saturday night, Henderson said that as he raced to the scene what he heard on the radio made him “expect it was going to be an officer-involved shooting.” The armed man, found near the church, was not obeying police commands.

But he “didn’t make any sudden moves toward the gun,” and five officers were able get him to the ground, Henderson said. There, the suspect and an officer wrestled for the gun, and the officer was able to disarm him.

“I feel like it’s not safe to be anywhere anymore,” congregation member Fatima Padilla, 15, said. “Because anything can happen anywhere.”