A man was arrested after using a sledgehammer to vandalize a World War II monument near Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Wednesday, October 21. Prince William County police responded to a report of property destruction near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road in Quantico at approximately 10:13 p.m. and found Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, 27, of Stafford, actively striking the statue with a sledgehammer. Officers detained him without incident.
The Iwo Jima Memorial near Quantico is a limestone sculpture created by Felix de Weldon in 1954 that honors all Marines who have died in defense of the country since 1775. It is a smaller version of the Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington, both depicting the famous scene from Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of six U.S. Marines raising the American flag atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
The damage to the monument was extensive. Police documented the removal of one figure's head, damage to a second figure's helmet and face, and the absence of a stone bayonet from a rifle on a third statue. Police estimated the total damage at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maldonado Soriano faces three charges: felony destruction of property, felony injury to a monument, and misdemeanor trespass with intent to damage property. He is being held without bond, with a court date pending. The incident report did not identify a motive for the vandalism.
According to the sources, Maldonado Soriano entered the United States illegally in December 1999. He received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status under the Obama administration in 2014, and that protection was extended under the Biden administration in 2024. His DACA status ended under the Trump administration in 2026.
President Donald Trump responded to the incident by calling the attack "a disgrace," describing the memorial as "beautiful" and "very important." Trump told reporters that the suspect "comes from Mexico" and was apprehended through "the border of Biden, the open border of Biden." Trump did not specify what punishment he believed the suspect should receive.
A White House spokeswoman issued a statement saying the suspect was a "criminal illegal alien" and emphasizing that "President Trump has secured our border and is deporting illegal criminals who hate our country and our values."
