Shock and sadness.
Those are the two overwhelming emotions for people as they learned about a vandalism attack on two of San Antonio's beloved missions overnight.
Taggers attacked both Mission San Juan and Mission San Jose with pink and blue spray paint.
At San Juan, the vandals painted both the front of the historic church building and its north wall, as well as other damage.
“On the north wall, they put a political statement which was essentially what [First Lady] Melania [Trump] had on her jacket the other day that they were making a fuss over,” said Diana Aguirre Martinez of Las Misiones, the nonprofit organization that works to preserve the San Antonio missions.
Martinez said that the group has been using the same restoration experts for years, so repair work started immediately.
“They are actually going to wet the plaster, let it soak a little bit, and then physically scrape off the painted parts carefully,” Martinez said as crews started to gently spray the damage. “But they are removing one layer of plaster."
Guide Steve Wood, who leads bicycle tours to the historic venues on a regular basis, was shocked to learn of the attack, saying the marks are stains on the landmarks and on the hearts of San Antonians.
"This is a sacred place. It should not be touched,” Wood said. “This is a sacrilege."
The exterior wall of Mission San Jose and several other structures were targeted as well. Park workers used banners to hide damage to a main exterior gate and they used an organic cleaner and water pressure to remove paint from the stone walls.
“Any time you're putting extra stress on mortar and the joints and the stones, it's not good for these structures,” said Lauren Gurniewicz, chief of interpretation with the National Park Service.
Virtually everyone who saw the damage agreed, these touchstones of the past deserve to be protected for the future.
"I hope they catch them and convict them and send them to jail," Wood said.
"It's really unfortunate that we're spending time on that instead of spending time on positive efforts,” Gurniewicz said.
Gurniewicz said a high definition camera at Mission San Juan did capture images of the vandals at work. That video has been shared with law enforcement.
Images of the tags left on the building have also been forwarded to the San Antonio Police Department gang unit in hopes that someone might recognize the signature of the vandals.
Gurniewicz added that anyone with information about who is responsible for the attack can call the main number of the National Park Service, which is 210-534-8875. The non-emergency number for SAPD is 210-207-7484. This incident is being investigated by the South Patrol Property Crimes unit.