A man who broke into the Dallas Museum of Art on Wednesday night caused significant damage by destroying property, including three ancient Greek objects and a modern Indian piece, before he was arrested, Dallas police said.
Brian Hernandez, 21, approached the museum’s glass front door with a metal chair around 9:40 p.m. and began destroying items once inside, police said.
Hernandez smashed a glass case and smashed a Greek amphora from the 6th century BC. – a type of ceramic vase – and a Greek box from 450 BC The units together are valued at approximately $ 5 million, police said, based on information from DMA security. and Chief Operating Officer Kenneth Bennett.
But later Thursday, museum director Agustin Arteaga said in a statement that the DMA was working with insurers and that “we assume the real amount could be part of the initial $ 5 million estimate.”
An analyst at the Dallas Police Department is filming Brian Hernandez in front of the Dallas Museum of Art after he was arrested on Wednesday. (Avi Adelman)
Hernandez is also accused of destroying a cup from 550-530 BC, valued at $ 100,000. Police said he also broke into a shop window, picked up a ceramic bottle with a Caddo image of an alligator and smashed it to the ground, smashing it. The piece was valued at $ 10,000.
“Three Greek ceramic vessels have been severely damaged in addition to a modern Native American pottery,” Arteaga said in a statement. “In addition, fewer than a dozen smaller pieces that were attacked in the same glass case may have suffered minor damage.
The museum was open to the public on Thursday, including its Cartier and Islamic Art exhibition. Some permanent collection galleries have been closed due to ongoing investigations.
The smashed objects are among more than 24,000 works in the DMA’s intercultural collection, which spans 5,000 years. They are hardly the most expensive items the museum has kept. For eight months in 2012, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, now considered the world’s most valuable work of art, lay on a tripod in a warehouse in the building. It was sold at auction to the Saudi heir to the throne for a record $ 450.3 million in 2017.
Broken glass lies at the entrance to the DMA on Wednesday night. Police said the suspect approached the museum with a metal chair before breaking in. (Elias Valverde II / full-time photographer)
Hernandez was read about his rights and confessed to officials, police said. He was charged with criminal malice worth more than $ 300,000. The guarantee is not specified.
The museum noted that Hernandez acted alone and unarmed, adding that his goal was not to steal works of art.
A DMA guard found Hernandez in the hall of the museum after a motion sensor was activated and detained him before calling police. Police said Hernandez also called 911 from the museum. Police responded around 10:10 p.m.
Hernandez has been detained at the Dallas County Jail, Dallas police said Thursday.
The guard told police that Hernandez said he was “angry with his girlfriend, so he stormed in and started destroying property,” police said.
The museum is open to the public on Thursday, including its Cartier and Islamic Art exhibition. Some permanent collection galleries have been closed as police investigate. (Elias Valverde II / full-time photographer)
Police said Bennett, the DMA’s director of security and operations, showed them a video of the suspect damaging and destroying the museum’s property. In addition to the work of art, Hernandez is accused of causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage to other property, including shop windows, furniture, a computer and telephones.
“While we are devastated by this incident, we are grateful that no one was injured. “The safety of our staff and visitors, together with the care and protection of the arts in our management, are our top priorities,” the museum said.
DMA board member Mary McDermott Cook, whose late parents donated or donated thousands of works of art to the museum, received a first-hand account of the vandalism on Thursday morning from museum director Agustin Arteaga. The call made my stomach hurt, Cook said.
“I feel like everything is crazy and that’s one thing that drove me crazy,” she said. “But what I also said was, ‘Let’s face it.’ These are just things. No one was injured. And we have the technology and the expertise to put things back together. And thank God for that. ”
Michael Granbury and Maggie Prosser contributed to this report.
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