Vandals take aim and shoot up tombstones and memorials at Canton Cemetery

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Dozens of holes were left in memorials and tombstones at Canton Cemetery from shots fired by vandals.

According to a report by WLBT on Tuesday, the Canton Cemetery was vandalized, leaving many memorials, including many belonging to World War II veterans, with bullet holes and other damages.

Unfortunately, cemetery vandalism is not too rare an occurrence. In 2021, the city cemetery in Vicksburg was vandalized. Stones were broken and knocked over, a water line was reported to have been broken and left running, the damage was enough of a concern to warrant a discussion on installing cameras in the area.

Vicksburg’s city cemetery was vandalized in 2021. (Photo by David Day)

Canton Mayor William Truly paid a visit to the Canton Cemetery and stated he will be working closely with the local authorities to help ensure activities such as this one will not happen again.

“How do you keep people from desecrating the dead? From vandalizing graves? That’s the mentality of someone who is just not right,” Truly told WLBT. “So this is a terrible act and hopefully we can find who did this. This is just not normal for people to go around desecrating those who have lost their life and the memories of loved ones.”