The statue of a Revolutionary War colonel was decapitated outside of a courthouse in Ohio, according to local news reports.
The head of a statue of Colonel William Crawford, which is located outside of the courthouse in Crawford County, was found completely removed, the Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum reported.
According to the newspaper, the statue sustained $7,500 in damage. The vandal has not been arrested but would face a fifth-degree felony charge.
The decapitation comes amid a surge of protests against statues across the U.S. But unlike with the Crawford statue, activists have recently been targeting statues of Confederate War generals and soldiers. Confederate statuary has been targeted after a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. held to defend a statue of Robert E. Lee turned violent. A white nationalist plowed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a 32-year-old woman.
Some statutes of Confederate-era figures have been toppled by demonstrators. Others have been ordered removed by local and state governments. A statue of Lee at the campus of Duke University was also vandalized.
The motive for beheading the Crawford statue is still unknown.
Crawford fought in both the French-Indian War and the American Revolutionary War and was friends with George Washington. He was burned and tortured by members of the Delaware Indian tribe in 1782 in retaliation for a massacre that left 100 dead.
Joel Spitzer, an attorney in Bucyrus, is offering a $1,000 reward for an arrest and conviction of the vandal.
“Crawford County works so hard to keep things nice and the courthouse is an absolute gem,” he said of the statue.
