Two Luray statues vandalized with profanity targeted at police officers

Early Monday morning around 2 a.m., two monuments, including a Confederate monument, were vandalized off of Main St. in the town of Luray.

The graffiti included profanity targeted at police officers and the Antifa movement, as well as anarchist symbols.

Luray town staff and volunteers worked to remove the spray paint through the afternoon.

Luray police chief Bow Cook said the vandalism was likely in response to the George Floyd protests happening across the country, though there were no large-scale protests in the town.

Chief Cook added that he is frustrated because he says the actions of officers in Minneapolis do not reflect the values of the Luray Police Department.

"It's not a representation of all law enforcement, and definitely not my department, and I know many officers who are distraught over this and it has affected them and their abilities to perform," Cook said. "What they got into this line of work for was to protect and serve the whole community, and it's frustrating."

Chief Cook says they are still investigating who is responsible for the vandalism.

The two Confederate monuments off of Main St. in Luray, dedicated in 1898 and in 1918, sponsored by the United Confederate Veterans when they were erected, do not recognize any one particular individual, but honor Confederate soldiers.

The vandalism in Luray is among

amid protests over the death of George Floyd.

Photos posted to social media late Saturday and early Sunday showed the bases of at least two Richmond statues — those of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart — almost entirely covered in graffiti. A statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis had “cops ran us over,” spray-painted on the base. A noose had been flung over Davis’ shoulder.

A fire burned for a time at the headquarters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a group responsible for erecting many Confederate statues and fighting their removal. The building, too, was covered in graffiti, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported over the weekend.

Some of the monuments targeted in a variety of states were already under consideration for removal.