Overview
- A man used a sledgehammer to remove a soldier's head and inflict extensive damage on an Iwo Jima limestone replica near the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Marine Corps Base Quantico.
- Prince William County police found and detained the suspect, identified as 27-year-old Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, at the scene while he was actively damaging the statue.
- Maldonado Soriano was arrested and charged with felony destruction of property, trespassing with intent to damage property, and felony injury to a monument, and he is being held without bond with a court date pending.
- Police estimate the cost to repair the monument at hundreds of thousands of dollars, citing removal of one depicted soldier’s head and other structural damage.
- The damaged statue is a smaller limestone replica by sculptor Felix de Weldon located at the museum entrance, and the attack may prompt increased security and a formal restoration plan by base and museum officials.