A woman detained by police officers in Washington, D.C. earlier today (July 29) has been charged with defacing property in the cases of the National Cathedral and a statue near the Smithsonian Museum being splattered with green paint.
The woman, Tian Jiamei, 58, was not charged with a similar incident at the Lincoln Memorial, as of now.
The woman was arrested inside the cathedral shortly after the paint was found, police and cathedral officials said. Investigators were hoping to question her about the vandalism on the Mall, including at the Lincoln Memorial, but a language barrier delayed the interrogation, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said.
It was not immediately clear if Tian had an attorney. Police believed she was homeless. No motive was given.
Sgt. Paul Brooks, a U.S. Park Police spokesman, said it was too early to tell whether the same person was responsible for the vandalism at the two Mall landmarks. He noted that while the paint appeared to be splattered indiscriminately on the memorial, the statue appeared to have been deliberately painted. The symbols on the statue were not immediately decipherable.
D.C. police said paint from the cathedral would likely be sent to the FBI for testing.
Several areas and objects inside the cathedral, including an organ, were splattered with paint. The organ is in the Bethlehem Chapel, which was built in 1912. Cleanup and restoration work at the cathedral was expected to cost $15,000, cathedral spokesman Richard Weinberg said.
The statue outside the Smithsonian that was splattered is dedicated to Joseph Henry, who is known as the inventor of the electric motor, according to the Smithsonian Archives.
Also on Monday, it was reported that green paint was found on the Martin Luther statue outside the Luther Place Memorial Church on Vermont Avenue.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
