Swastikas painted on about 200 headstones at Illinois cemetery

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — A 34-year-old man was arrested after police said swastikas were spray painted on several homes, cars and gravestones in an Illinois town.

The vandalism occurred sometime between midnight and 4 a.m. on Saturday, Edwardsville police said. The man, police said, targeted homes on a particular road as well as nearby Sunset Hill Cemetery, in Glen Carbon, Ill. 

The incident forced staff to scrub and clean the headstones just days before Memorial Day observances. Mark Johnson, the cemetery’s grounds superintendent, described the vandalism as heartbreaking. Roughly 200 headstones were damaged, he said.

Sunset Hill Cemetery is the resting place for more than 1,300 veterans.

“They fight for freedom and that Swastika represents a different lifestyle. It’s kind of a slap in the face,” said Johnson.

Police have promised more information on the man, once he is charged, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.