The historic Fox Theatre building on West Congress Street was vandalized with graffiti.
Tucson police received a call from Fox Theatre just before 8:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Sgt. Kimberly Bay of the Tucson Police Department. But even before receiving the call, police were aware of the heavy graffiti situation because of photos circulating on the social media platform Twitter.
A few other businesses in the downtown area, including the Chase Bank adjacent to the Fox Theatre, were also vandalized, Bay said. The Tucson police graffiti unit is actively working to find out whether those incidents are related.
The vandalism feels like a "personal attack" on the community, said Craig Sumberg, executive director of the Fox Theatre Foundation.
"Whether we work here or just come to the shows, we all have an investment in the theater," he said.
Priority 1, a Tucson commercial cleaning service, is donating its services to clean up the graffiti damage, he said. The goal is to clean up within the next 24 hours and do a "minimally invasive job" to preserve the intricate exterior, he added.
The Fox Theatre is raising money to buy security systems for the front of the theater, he said.
There have been occasional graffiti over the years at the Fox Theatre, but nothing approached this scale of vandalism, said Herb Stratford, who was one of the original members involved in restoring the historic building and the executive director of its foundation from 1999 to 2008.
"That was just so horrible to see that much damage," he said. The vandals "defaced an important historical landmark."
The Fox Theatre building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, he said. The vandalized walls aren't just any white walls that they can just paint over and be done with, he added.
"I hope that the current management will be proactive and sensitive in restoring the damage," he said.
