A 21-year-old man broke into the Dallas Museum of Art in the United States on Wednesday and caused more than $5 million in damage to artefacts and other property after getting into a fight with his girlfriend.
According to the Independent, Dallas police informed that they have arrested Brian Hernandez. They said that the 21-year-old allegedly smashed through the museum's glass door with a metal chair on Wednesday night. He then used a stool to smash two display cases and damage several pieces of ancient art, including two pots estimated at $5 million in value.
Mr Hernandez told the cops that he wrecked the museum because he was “mad at his girlfriend”. He reportedly destroyed 2,500-year-old Greek artefacts. He also destroyed a contemporary Native American piece of art valued at $10,000 and a Greek cup from around 540BCE valued at $100,000. Moreover, he allegedly destroyed a telephone, a computer and a bench inside the museum.
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As per the Independent, the initial estimate of the damage he caused is around $5,153,000. However, the Dallas Museum of Art's director, Augustine Arteaga, said that he was working with insurers in order to determine the damage, noting that the final estimate could be lower than the initial $5 million number.
The police report stated that the security guards caught up with Mr Hernandez on the museum's main floor. They were alerted to his presence when a motion detector alarm went off. When asked what he was doing in the museum, the 21-year-old said that he got mad at his girlfriend so he broke in and started destroying property.
CNN reported that no one was harmed during the incident. The museum too opened the next day, though the areas where Mr Hernandez allegedly caused damage were blocked off to allow the investigation to continue unhindered.
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This incident comes days after the world-famous Mona Lisa was the target of attempted vandalism at the Louvre Museum in Paris. A man dressed as an elderly woman threw a cake at the painting's protective glass. The masterpiece was not damaged.
