The Martin Luther King Jr. “I Have a Dream” memorial in Denver’s City Park was vandalized Tuesday night when someone removed and stole several sections of the installation, according to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission.

Denver police are investigating the vandalism that was reported about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, the department said in a statement.

The Denver Police Department’s Bias-Motivated Crime Unit is assisting with the investigation to determine who is responsible and if there’s a bias-motivated component, the department said.

Commission leader Vern Howard was informed of the vandalism by a community member Wednesday morning.

Several pieces of the marble-and-bronze memorial were removed and stolen, including a bronze torch and angel as well as a bronze panel that depicted Black military veterans.

Created by artist Ed Dwight in 2002, the memorial features a bronze statue of King as well as smaller statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass.

Howard helped lead the city effort to install the monument and said Wednesday the vandalism felt like a personal attack, particularly because it occurred during Black History Month.

Howard said the vandalism will not deter efforts to seek freedom, justice and equality, referencing the Black spiritual turned civil rights anthem “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.”

“You can steal. You can take. You can pull. You can hate. You can do everything that you believe necessary to detour the message of Dr. King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission,” Howard said.

“We’re going to continue to march, to honor and to work toward freedom, toward justice, toward the end of racism, toward the end of hatred and the end of discrimination. We will never give up.”

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