Monument repairs at Downey Cemetery nearly complete after vandalism

Photos by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY - City staff says that repairs are nearly complete after several headstones were knocked over and damaged over the weekend at the historic Downey Cemetery.

Public Works staff says that roughly 20 to 25 monuments were knocked over at the cemetery, which was discovered early Saturday morning by a regular cemetery visitor.

Downey Police were called and took a report of the incident. Work to repair the headstones and set them upright began Monday.

A staff member attached to the repair work said that as of Wednesday afternoon, only a few remained to be fixed, and would probably be done by Thursday.

According to public works staff, this is not the first time that an incident such as this has happened. Staff has also previously found paraphernalia possibly associated with ritualistic activity – such as cow tongues attached to trees and chickens either free-roaming or with their heads removed – on the cemetery grounds.