A Virginia man is accused of inflicting hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage on an Iwo Jima monument near Marine Corps Base Quantico. (Prince William County Police)
A 27-year-old Virginia man was arrested after police said he used a sledgehammer to sever the head of a Marine depicted in an Iwo Jima statue near Marine Corps Base Quantico. The attack caused extensive damage to the historic monument, officials said.
Prince William County police were called to the monument near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road in Quantico at approximately 10:13 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, following a report of vandalism.
When officers arrived, they allegedly found Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, of Stafford, Virginia, striking the statue with a sledgehammer, police said.
Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano was taken into custody after police said he used a sledgehammer to attack the Iwo Jima monument near Marine Corps Base Quantico. (Prince William County Police)
Authorities said Maldonado Soriano was detained and arrested after officers documented major damage to the limestone sculpture, which honors one of the most iconic scenes in U.S. military history.
The assault allegedly knocked the head completely off one Marine and damaged other figures shown raising the American flag during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima.
Photographs released by police show the rightmost figure without a head. Another Marine’s helmet and face bear deep gouges, police told News Outlet.
The bayonet on a gun slung across a third figure’s back was also damaged. Police estimated repairs could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The limestone monument near Marine Corps Base Quantico portrays the famed World War II flag-raising on Iwo Jima. (Prince William County Police)
Maldonado Soriano is charged with felony destruction of property, trespassing with the intent to damage property and felony injury to a monument.
He remains jailed without bond. Court officials have not announced a hearing date.
Investigators have not released a potential motive and have not said whether the monument can be fully restored.
The damaged statue stands 9 feet tall and depicts the historic flag-raising atop Mount Suribachi during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima.
Police said a Marine in the iconic Iwo Jima monument was decapitated in the alleged sledgehammer attack. (Prince William County Police)
Felix de Weldon sculpted the monument. He later designed the larger bronze Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
The smaller limestone monument is located near the entrance to Marine Corps Base Quantico, close to the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
Quantico is a major Marine Corps installation in Northern Virginia and has long served as a hub for military training and education.
Parts of the base were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 as the Quantico Marine Corps Base Historic District. The district includes 122 buildings, two landscapes, a sculpture and a water tower.
