Asheville’s historic City Hall vandalized, NC cops say. 22-year-old facing charges

A 22-year-old Pennsylvania man has been arrested on charges of vandalizing City Hall in Asheville, a structure on the National Register of Historic Places.

The suspect was identified as Reece Sebastian Jaksec, according to a release from the Asheville Police Department.

Investigators say the incidents — which included broken windows — occurred in December amid a public outcry over the city removing a homeless tent camp.

“Jaksec graffitied the side of a city building on Dec. 11 with profanity, then on Dec. 31 threw rocks with the message ‘You started a war’ and ‘You’re waging war’,” the department said in a release. “Jaksec and several other activists were recently banned from all city parks after being charged with trespassing and resisting arrest during a protest event in Aston Park on Dec. 25.”

Asheville’s City Hall dates to the 1920s and is considered an “eclectic Art Deco masterpiece,” according to the National Park Service.

Jaksec was arrested Jan. 6 and charged with “two counts of placing and exhibit with intent to intimidate (one of which was specifically while wearing a mask to conceal identity), damage to real property, two counts of deface public property, and two counts of graffiti vandalism,” police said.

Photos of the rocks used during the incidents carried messages demanded the city “stop the sweeps,” a possible reference to the homeless camp removals in the city.

Asheville police posted a statement Dec. 10, noting a homeless camp near Interstate 240 had grown to the point of being dangerous. People living in the camp were told to relocate, but “the campsite continued to grow,” police said.

Safety concerns were heightened when a body was found in one of the tents, officials said.

“We have received numerous complaints of open drug use, theft, and sexual assault at the campsite,” the department said. “Asheville Police Department (APD) has discovered hypodermic needles strewn throughout the encampment. The Asheville Fire Department has responded to this location five times for open burning, which is especially dangerous when there is a city and statewide burn ban.”

The camp was eventually cleared with no arrests, the department said.

However, some advocates for the homeless said clearing the camp site “just amounts to cruelty,” WLOS reported.