A man and woman are suspected behind the gross defilement of several books at the Southside Branch of the Santa Fe Public Library. Three copies of the Qur’an appeared damaged, with the couple believed to have urinated on them.
Library staff said the Muslim scriptures were covered in “a yellowish liquid substance,” and smelled of urine. They told police that the suspected couple had been causing problems at the library since early March, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported. A copy of President Bill Clinton‘s autobiography, My Life, was also said to be damaged.
According to a police report, in addition to the destruction, copies of the Bible and books by Ann Coulter were positioned “around the library, as if they were placed on display for all to see.” Police records indicated that the suspects were first seen at the library on March 2, then the next day gave staff attitude when they were told to move their trailer out of the parking lot. On March 6, they reportedly came back, with the man having a “large knife, sheathed, on his belt.” When a library employee told him he couldn’t bring it inside, the man got mad and said he had a right to bear arms.
Video footage from the library didn’t catch the suspects in the act, and DNA testing wouldn’t be helpful, given how many people handle library books, police said. However, cameras did show them in the same areas where the damaged books were found, according to KOB4. The books were discovered after they left.
The suspected couple’s identities are unknown, and an officer with the Santa Fe police said that he ceased investigating when he couldn’t match their Wyoming license plate number with the car.
[Image via KOB4 screengrab]
