Residents of Richmond, Virginia laid flowers at the Richmond Police Officer Memorial the last few days in honor of five police officers slain in racially motivated shooting in Dallas.

Yesterday, locals found it defaced with red spray paint – a red X across the officer’s boy and paint on his face, the message “Justice for Alton” sprayed on the brick pavers at his feet.

Mary Worth sent pictures into NBC 12, which confirmed that the city is already working to clean up the mess.

The message is an apparent response to the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge last week that sparked Black Lives Matter protests in several cities, including a recent rally in Dallas where a protestor killed five police officers in a murderous rampage.

Several news agencies and others posted images online of the vandalized statue in Richmond.

Richmond Deputy Police Chief Steve Drew vowed to clean off the spray paint within 24 hours. He called the act – which occurred shortly after Richmond Police tweeted a picture of the flower-covered monument – “unfortunate.”

WTVR reports the monument was recently moved to Byrd Park from the Richmond Coliseum to increase exposure.

“The paving stones indicate beautiful progress at the Police Memorial statue,” the department posted to Twitter around 5 p.m. Tuesday. “Thanks for the flowers, #rva.”

“For 28 years, the Police Memorial Statue stood under trees in a corner of Festival Park. Some thought the statue didn’t get the appreciation it deserved there,” Richmond Police said in a YouTube video about the move, according to the news site. “Thanks to the Relocation Committee – it took a journey Friday, June 24, to its new site in Byrd Park – where it will enjoy greater visibility.”

WTVR reporter Jake Burns noted in a Tweet with a picture of the defaced statue Wednesday morning that “In 29 years at Festival Park, the statue never had a scratch on it.

“It’s been here less than three weeks,” he wrote.

“The vandalism comes days after a weekend threat phoned in to police was deemed not credible by Richmond Police and hours after hundreds of people filled the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School auditorium for a conversation about ending violence,” according to the news site.

“Workers tell me they were concerned about this,” Burns tweeted. “People had been guarding the statue.”

Twitter aggregate site Twitchy also highlighted numerous posts about the vandalism.

National Blue Alert, which helps families of officers killed in the line of duty, tweeted images of the spray painted statue, as well, which prompted harsh criticism for the culprit.

“This act is so reprehensible,” Jeff Gross wrote. “Defacing a memorial speaks volumes to the character of the perpetrator.”

“People are too ignorant to realize that no one feels empathy when protest manifests as a criminal act,” Tattooed_Lady added.

“Such disrespect is reprehensible, hopefully they catch the dirt bag that did this!” Cori Belanger wrote.