Authorities have issued warrants for a 32-year-old South Carolina woman suspected of vandalizing the Charleston 9 Memorial on Savannah Highway in June.
Eman Mubarak Brown of Pristine View Drive, Charleston, is wanted for malicious injury to real property and attempts to burn, officials with the Charleston Police Department wrote in a release.
Brown also has an additional warrant for petit larceny for the theft of American and South Carolina flags from the city’s CresCom bank.
According to the release, the flags were taken about two hours after the Charleston 9 Memorial was vandalized.
“We were disheartened this morning to learn that someone vandalized the park. Crosses and flags were removed, at least one flag was burned,” the department said on Twitter on June 26.
C9 Memorial Park Vandalized: We were disheartened this morning to learn that someone vandalized the park. Crosses & flags were removed, at least 1 flag was burned. Chief Curia will be on site at 12:30, joined by CPD, to meet with the media and review the incident. #Chsnews pic.twitter.com/wUaWGBv2UV
— Charleston Fire Dept (@Charleston_Fire) June 26, 2020
The Charleston 9 Memorial was set up to honor nine firefighters from the Charleston Fire Department who died while encountering a massive blaze at a store in 2007, local news outlet The State reported.
Private surveillance footage from a business located near to the vandalized memorial helped authorities with the identification of the suspect, the release stated.
“We would like to thank the members of the community and of our extended fire service family for your support throughout this incident,” Charleston Fire Chief Dan Curia said. “Thank you to our partners in the Charleston Police Department who were able to quickly resolve this situation.”
Brown has a previous record of vandalism, ABC4 reported, citing an incident report. In 2019, she was arrested for vandalizing the Charleston County Library building on Calhoun Street, the report stated.
