Man destroyed Ten Commandments monument, ‘because Satan told him to do it'

A man has been arrested after allegedly driving a car into a Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma, smashing it to pieces, 'because Satan told him to do it'.

Michael Reed Jr, 29, from Roland, Sequoyah County, is accused of deliberately running over the controversial six-foot structure outside the State Capitol building last night.
He then reportedly showed up at a federal building in Oklahoma City this morning, where he started rambling and making derogatory statements about President Barack Obama.

These included threats to kill the President, as well as spitting on a photo of Obama, it is alleged.

Reed Jr was quickly arrested by police and later admitted destroying the monument because he had been ordered to do so by Satan, U.S. Secret Service agent David Allison said.

'He claimed he got out of his car, urinated on the monument, and then ran over it and destroyed it,' Mr Allison said. 'He said Satan told him to do it, and that he was a Satanist.'

The suspect, who fled the scene following the alleged monument attack at around 9pm, was reportedly turned over to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol for questioning.

The Ten Commandments monument, which has been a subject of great controversy since its creation in 2012, was built with the agreement of Oklahoma's Conservative Legislature.

Today, Mike Ritze, of Broken Arrow, whose family spent nearly $10,000 having the monument erected, said: 'We consider this an act of violence against the state of Oklahoma.'

In a vow to have it rebuilt, he added: 'We are obviously shocked and dismayed, but we're not discouraged.'
Meanwhile, Governor Mary Fallin called Reed Jr's alleged crime an 'appalling' act of vandalism and volunteered to help raise private funds to restore the structure.

Over the past two years, the monument has been widely disputed, with The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma suing to have it removed on the basis it violates the Oklahoma Constitution.

The ACLU is carrying out legal action on behalf of a Norman minister and others who allege the monument's location violates the state constitutional ban on using public property to support 'any sect, church, denomination or system of religion.'

A judge ruled last month that the monument does not violate the Oklahoma Constitution, and ACLU attorneys filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court.

Ryan Kiesel, the ACLU of Oklahoma's executive director, said he and his clients were 'outraged' that the monument was vandalized.

'To see the Ten Commandments desecrated by vandals is highly offensive to them as people of faith,' Mr Kiesel said.

The monument's placement has led others to seek permission to erect their own monuments, including a satanic group that hopes to create a seven-foot statue of Satan.

Other requests have been made from a Hindu leader in Nevada and the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Reed Jr has been taken to Oklahoma County mental facility for an emergency order of detention and a mental evaluation, Koco.com reported.

Meanwhile, pieces of the monument were today being removed from the scene.

Source: Mail Online UK