SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Capitol complex in Springfield is missing a statue.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. was knocked off its pedestal and the secretary of state's office has jurisdiction over the capitol grounds.
The state’s assessing the damage to the statue.
“Sunday evening, we estimate about 11:00,” said Dave Druker, a spokesman for the Illinois secretary of state’s office, “a person came up to the statue of Dr. King and toppled it.”
Druker said the suspect is Fernando Garcia Martinez and that so far, the evidence may not support a hate crime. However, Martinez is facing charges of criminal damage to state property.
Still, the fact that the statue is of King is troubling to Secretary of State Jesse White - for whom King was a pastor and a mentor during White’s college days in Alabama.
"He was stunned-very surprised," Druker said regarding White's reaction to the incident.
"It was through Dr. King that he got involved with the Montgomery bus boycott when he was a college student, so it did have some personal feeling for Secretary White."
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