The Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the vandalism of a memorial banner to late conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
Investigators were on scene just before 9 a.m. Thursday, taking photographs of the ruined sign and talking with Larry Green, head of the local Republican Committee which put the sign up on private property at the intersection of at Virginia Route 229 and Ira Hoffman Lane just north of Downtown.
Green said he got the call from a committee member at daybreak that the sign had been damaged.
In addition to tearing up the larger banner, someone spray-painted over the image of Kirk’s face and wrote “BURN IN HELL” and “FREE PALESTINE.” Flowers left at the memorial sign were trampled.
“I call it a hate crime,” Green said in a phone interview after leaving the scene. “It should be prosecuted as a hate crime.”
Sheriff Tim Chilton weighed in, saying, “Another crime that is driving division in Culpeper. We are working it as a vandalism but certainly has the appearance of a hate crime. If we are able to make an arrest off of it, we will speak with the commonwealth’s attorney about the appropriate charges.”
Green said he will not be deterred.
“This person will be found,” he said. “A new sign is being made as we speak, and we will put it back up. We are not backing down.”
The Culpeper County Republican Committee installed the sign last Friday.
Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed on Sept. 10 during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was 31.
Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old Utah resident, has been charged with his murder. Robinson had told those close to him before the assassination that he believed Kirk and his organization were fueling dangerous divisions in America.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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