GRAY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Mid-morning on Thursday deputies from the Knox County Sheriff's Department were called to Gray Cemetery. When they arrived, they found around 25 to 30 graves had been vandalized. It’s estimated that thousands of dollars of property were damaged.
Sheriff Mike Smith says, "There were headstones that were damaged, sentimental ornaments that people had placed on graves for their loved ones, urns, vases, flowers, as well as those solar lights."
The sheriff says this is still an ongoing investigation, but they have arrested an individual and charged them with criminal mischief in the first degree. It's still not clear why this happened.
"For whatever reason, not exactly sure what the intent was. But just sad that someone would do this,” says Sheriff Smith.
Right now, they think that the person acted alone. They say they're currently under custodial care. The sheriff says they were able to speak with some of the families -- that started cleaning up on their loved ones' memorials Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
The sheriff says, "Obviously they were very saddened, angry, upset, that someone would do this to their loved ones' graves understandably. And they were just wanting to get to the bottom of it and we were able to through an investigation, get an individual charged."
Being that Gray is such a small community, Sheriff Smith says they’re keeping the families in their thoughts.
He says, "Yea you know our hearts go out to them. Obviously, when something like this happens it affects, not only the family members, the loved ones, the friends but the entire community. But yes, we have spoken to them, had them document the damage, and so forth."
The sheriff says actions like this impact the entire community.
