Washington Monument vandalized with red paint

Adrienne Winston and Lilit Marcus

The Washington Monument was temporarily closed and a man was arrested Tuesday evening for allegedly vandalizing the monument with paint.

Shaun Ray Deaton, 44, of Bloomington, Indiana, was arrested on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., the The United States Park Police said in a statement on Wednesday.

The man splashed red paint and wrote a profane message on the base of the monument, police said.

“Deaton was charged with trespassing, tampering and vandalism (36 CFR2.31). This is an initial criminal charge and, as the investigation continues, there may be additional charges,” the USPP statement said.

Work by National Park Service conservators has begun to remove the paint, and park police asked anyone with information about the incident to call their tip line at (202) 379-4877 or USPP_Tipline@nps.gov.

“The top layer of paint is coming off and the pigment that seeped into the stone will be treated with many rounds of cleaning product application,” the National Mall unit of the National Park Service said Wednesday on Twitter.

The monument was open again on Wednesday morning.

The iconic 555-foot-tall obelisk on the National Mall honors George Washington, the country’s first president.

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