A man is in custody after U.S. Park Police in Washington, D.C. said he vandalized the Washington Monument on Tuesday.
CNN reported that the man, whose name has not been released, splashed paint and wrote a message that contained profanity on the base of the obelisk.
The area around the tourist attraction was temporarily closed because of the incident, ABC News reported.
National Park Service conservators are in charge of the cleanup, which started Wednesday morning.
Our expert team is aware of the issue and will get to work first thing in the morning. https://t.co/rHqMxgL4KG
— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) September 21, 2022
It may take two to three weeks to fully remove the paint because the monument is made of marble, which is porous and may have absorbed the paint. It may take multiple treatments to remove it all, WTOP reported.
Police have not released a motive for the vandalism.
This is not the first time a monument has been defaced.
In 2013, a woman splashed green paint on the Lincoln Memorial’s steps, WUSA reported. The monument’s columns were also targeted by a vandal in 2018.
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