A man and a woman were arrested shortly after they speckled a downtown Confederate monument with red paint Sunday afternoon.

The Confederate Defenders of Charleston monument looked pretty bloody after Charles Chandler, 23, and Kayleigh Roberts, 29, covered it in a “red paint like substance,” according to the Charleston Police Department.

The redecoration came one day before the fourth anniversary of the Mother Emanuel shooting, in which a white supremacist killed nine people at a weeknight Bible study.
[content-1] [content-4] Officers made their way to 2 Murray Boulevard at around 12:41 p.m. Witnesses on the scene provided a description of the suspects, who were found a few blocks away on the road that encircles the tip of the peninsula.

The statue was erected in 1932 by the Charleston chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, according to the Smithsonian. “The statue shows a left hand pointing towards the sea to the enemy, and the shield bears the South Carolina state seal,” the museum says. [embed-1]
A similar incident happened in Nashville late Sunday night. There, a statue in honor of Confederate soldiers was doused in red paint. The words “they were racist” were written at the base.

It is unclear if the acts are part of a coordinated effort.

In Charleston, there are 13 monuments and symbols that honor soldiers or other figures of the Confederacy. Most are street names on James Island, but some are more prominent, such as the obelisk in honor of Gen. Wade Hampton at Marion Square.

Chandler and Roberts were being held at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center as of Monday morning.

Chandler was charged with malicious injury to property over $200. Roberts was charged with damage to real property.

Clean-up is about 80 percent done, according to city Parks Director Jason Kronsberg. A city spokeswoman said the fire department will step up to take care of the rest.

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