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Vandals Spray Paint Rock At Grand Canyon

Alleged vandals are seen walking away from a spray-painted rock at Grand Canyon National Park.
(Photo courtesy of National Park Service Investigative Services Branch)
Alleged vandals are seen walking away from a spray-painted rock at Grand Canyon National Park.

National Park Service investigators searching for two people who vandalized a rock at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. A man and woman were seen – and photographed – spray-painting the rock with the words “Evans 16.”

Park investigators don’t know what it means, only that it was sprayed in black across a rock May 22. It happened near the Yavapai Geology Museum. A photo shows a man in a pink T-shirt and a woman in jeans and a camo-print long-sleeved shirt walking away from the scene. 

Kirby Shedlowski, a spokeswoman for Grand Canyon National Park, said the park had more than 5.5 million visitors last year.

“And if every one of those 5.5 million visitors left their mark on the Grand Canyon, what would that mean for the next 5.5 million visitors?” she said. “What their experience at Grand Canyon be?”

Just a few weeks ago, graffiti measuring five feet was carved deep into a famed rock formation at Arches National Park in Utah.

Anyone with information about national park vandalism is encouraged to call an anonymous tip line, 888-653-0009.

Stina Sieg was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2013 to 2018.