Overview

• Atlanta police say they responded around 4:30 a.m. Saturday after security reported a man urinating in the reflecting pool and stomping on the Eternal Flame.
• Investigators identified the suspect as Brent Jones, 26, who was arrested shortly after and remained in the Fulton County Jail on Monday.
• Jones faces charges of second-degree criminal damage to property, criminal trespass, public indecency, and obstruction of law enforcement.
• Arrest documents allege about $3,000 in damage and say Jones climbed into the flame’s vessel, scattered memorial papers, fought a security guard, slipped restraints, and resisted officers.
• The King Center described the episode as minor, affirmed that the Eternal Flame still burns, and said the grounds within Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park stay open during the federal shutdown.