Man defaces 9/11 Memorial with red paint across victims’ names in brazen gun control stunt
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: A man accused of spray-painting a gun-control slogan over the names of victims at New York’s 9/11 Memorial filmed himself carrying out the act and later used his arrest to publicize his political campaign.
31-year-old Jonathan Andrew Tijerina was taken into custody on Monday, October 26, after red paint was found across part of the North Tower reflecting pool, where the names of people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks are engraved.
Vandal films 9/11 memorial stunt
Tijerina now faces criminal mischief and graffiti charges over the incident, police said.
His website address, ‘JustStopKillingKids.com,’ was spray-painted in red across the memorial’s stone panels, covering portions of the engraved names.
The act was captured on video, which he later posted to Instagram.
Earlier today, the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero in Manhattan was defaced with graffiti. I wear on my wrist the names of over a hundred friends and colleagues who lost their lives in the attacks twenty five years ago. 1/2 https://t.co/Kvs1Sc3ERg
— Thomas P. Sullivan (@Sully4Assembly) October 28, 2026
Clips appear to show Tijerina arriving at the site, pulling an aerosol can from his bag and writing across the memorial. He also recorded himself taking responsibility for the act.
“My name is Jon Tijerina and I’ve just spray-painted ‘just stop killing kids’ on the 9/11 Memorial,” he says in the recording.
Tijerina also cited a mass shooting following a Florida A&M homecoming football game as a reason for his actions.
Investigators reportedly estimated the damage at more than $2,500. The memorial’s management subsequently confirmed that the red paint had been removed and the affected section restored.
Vandal's website boasts about arrest
Rather than retracting the act, Tijerina’s organization used his arrest to publicize its campaign, calling on President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to back stricter gun regulations.
In a follow-up post dated October 26, the group said Tijerina had been arrested after spraying red paint on the memorial in New York.
It highlighted the incident as part of a push for two specific measures: universal background checks and a national gun registry.
The organization’s website identifies “nonviolent civil resistance” as its method for seeking changes to laws and public policy.
It argues that both proposals have public backing and could be implemented without repealing the Second Amendment.
“We have two specific, achievable demands. Both have majority public support. Both already exist in other high-income countries. Neither requires repealing the Second Amendment. We are not asking for the impossible, we are asking for what every other wealthy democracy already has,” the website states.
