Texan Arrested For Desecrating The Alamo

The Alamo was desecrated by Julio Perez, a 22-year-old Laredo man, who got arrested and charged. He got jailed on a $20,000 bond, said the San Antonio police officials, according to The San Antonio Express-News.

While he tried to bolt with a woman, an Alamo ranger caught him, handcuffed him and called the police.

He was carving his name in the 250-year-old interior limestone buttress wall of the Monk's Burial Room, a side room in the Alamo's mission church. At the moment he was spotted by a tour guide and a security officer, who immediately caught him.

"In Texas, we take our history seriously and consider The Alamo to be sacred ground," Alamo Rangers Chief Mark Adkins said at a news conference. "Desecration of any part of these hallowed grounds, especially the walls of the Alamo Chapel, will not be tolerated, and we will support prosecution to the fullest extent of the law."

History.com says:

"In December 1835, during Texas' war for independence from Mexico, a group of Texan volunteer soldiers occupied The Alamo, a former Franciscan mission located near the present-day city of San Antonio. On February 23, 1836, a Mexican force numbering in the thousands and led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began a siege of the fort. Though vastly outnumbered, the Alamo's 200 defenders - commanded by James Bowie and William Travis and including the famed frontiersman Davy Crockett - held out courageously for 13 days before the Mexican invaders finally overpowered them. For Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became an enduring symbol of their heroic resistance to oppression and their struggle for independence, which they won later that year."

The guide found a 3-inch by 1-inch carving that read "Julio" on the limestone wall, the San Antonio Current  reported.

"The material that he was etching it into is, of course, of historical value. And the dollar value of (the damage) was in excess of $250,000," said Sgt. Javier Salazar, a spokesman for San Antonio Police Department, according to The Inquisitr.

Tourists said they were horrified when told of the desecration, and the Monk's Room is now closed until preservationists assess it, according to hngn.