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Must be Holy War day.
BYU fans woke up Saturday morning with the Cougar statue outside of LES vandalized red. Multiple people on social media posted the photo. Here are a couple of the pics:
I'm heading to the line rn but my bro-in-law, @runfordtough took a picture this morning from a slightly different angle pic.twitter.com/jY1ejVj8HO
— Russell Nam Pham (@russellnampham) September 9, 2017
@975Hans @JakeScottZone @1280Spence @PKKinahan @GordonMonson Really!! Way to stay classy @Utah_Football and @TheMUSS this is a disgrace!!! pic.twitter.com/pbEAltHhvo
— Jeremi Barber (@JeremiBarber) September 9, 2017
As of Saturday morning around 11 a.m., it is unclear who the perpetrator is. Campus statues are usually plastic wrapped during the BYU-Utah game week for this exact reason, but reports say this statue was not covered.
Thousands of BYU students were camped outside of the stadium, so the statue was likely painted after students fell asleep.
People at the site are reporting the statue is being cleaned, meaning that the Cougar should be back and ready before fans start showing up to the stadium.
BYU Grounds is doing a great job cleaning up the statue pic.twitter.com/0IBUMavoGS
— Cross the 50 vs Utah (@okelleykm) September 9, 2017
UPDATE: Four suspects were apprehended and charged with criminal mischief, according to the Deseret News. Lt. Steven Messick also told the Deseret News that a student called police after seeing people painting the statue.
Tom Holmoe tweeted the following:
Cougar cleans up well. 4 s from up north apprehended. Literally caught "red handed" with red paint on hands by BYU's finest. #dumbcriminals pic.twitter.com/27GmbTArSj
— Tom Holmoe (@TomHolmoe) September 9, 2017