Surveillance Video Shows Protesters Damaging Oklahoma City National Memorial

Police are investigating who vandalized the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum’s outside display during weekend protests.

Museum staff said they wants to take this as an opportunity to teach rather than to prosecute. 

The museum said police know who the suspect is because surveillance video captured it all on tape. In the video the suspect in a white shirt and wearing a red and black hat can be seen hurling a rock at the museum’s monitor on the north side of the building. Another person out of frame hit the TV. Pictures show that the impact point takes up about a quarter of the display. 

The Memorial and Museum said this attack hits especially hard, because like so many other businesses the museum has already been impacted by COVID-19.

“I mean, small businesses have been destroyed who have already been impacted by COVID-19,” said Kari Watkins with the OKC National Memorial and Museum. “We’ve certainly been impacted by that. To take another hit is not fun and it’s not easy [to replace] those products or whatever people are having to replace.” 

“I feel a real responsibility to make sure we continue to teach and there are certainly some people who need to learn the lessons we learned here all too well 25 years ago,” said Watkins.

 To do that, the museum said it has an alternative route they would rather take with the suspects.

“We’ve asked instead of prosecuting the perpetrators that we could have them walk through the side and go through the site and go through the museum with a family member or a survivor,” said Watkins. “And understand the story. The senselessness of violence.”

 Police say this is still an active investigation. No further suspect description has been released.