Victoria police are investigating after the Queen Elizabeth II statue in Beacon Hill Park was found beheaded.
Officers were called to an area of the park near the petting zoo just after noon Wednesday after it was discovered one of the statues of the Queen had been vandalized.
There they discovered that the statue’s head had been removed which has yet to be found.
This incident comes after a rash of overnight vandalism incidents involving graffiti that mentions Beacon Hill Park.
It’s unclear if the two incidents are related.
Overnight vandalism spree
In addition to the statue being destroyed, business owners and municipal workers awoke to find their property vandalized on Wednesday morning.
VicPD are investigating a graffiti spree that saw a number of messages sprawled across the city, including the statue of Queen Elizabeth II being beheaded in Beacon Hill Park.
The graffiti, seen on numerous buildings, including businesses, public facilities, and City of Victoria properties makes reference to Beacon Hill Park, bylaw, and human rights.
#Graffitispree in Victoria last night leaves messages like #f**kbylaw and #defendbeaconhill littered across the city #yyj #victoriabuzz@victoriabuzzes pic.twitter.com/U8W9qkVRDN
— Ryan Hook (@ryanhookwrites) February 24, 2021
City of Victoria bylaw offices downtown vandalized overnight. Red spray paint messages on a number of windows reads: "Support Beacon Hill" #yyj #vandalized #tagging pic.twitter.com/ASX6bu358d
— CFAX1070 (@cfax1070) February 24, 2021
24/7 camping needs to end. This is getting out of control #yyj @Adam_Stirling pic.twitter.com/CmXcDSvXOd
— Cody Lapierre (@codylapierre1) February 24, 2021
Anyone with information on either incident can contact VicPD at 250-995-7654, or report anonymously to Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
