A gun control activist filmed himself desecrating the 9/11 Memorial with red spray paint in a brazen daylight stunt.
Jonathan Andrew Tijerina, 31, is facing criminal mischief charges after spraying the name of his gun control website onto the North Tower reflecting pool at Ground Zero in Manhattan on Monday.
He filmed himself tagging the words 'Juststopkillingkids.com' directly over the names of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
The saboteur proudly shared footage of his graffiti to Instagram from start to finish, showing himself walking up to the tribute and pulling out a red spray paint bottle.
He then spoke to the camera: 'To the security, my name is John Tijerina, and I just spray painted Just Stop Killing Kids onto the 9/11 Memorial.'
The NYPD said it had removed the graffiti, but said Tijerina's vandalism cost over $2,500 in damages.
Following his arrest, Tijerina celebrated the stunt as a victory and demanded President Trump and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani enact gun control laws.
He wrote: 'On October 26, 2026, Jon Tijerina was arrested for spraying red paint on Freedom Tower in NYC. He is demanding that Trump and Mamdani enforce common-sense, highly popular demands with respect to guns such as Universal Background Checks and a National Gun Registry.'
A gun control activist filmed himself desecrating the 9/11 Memorial with red spray paint in a brazen daylight stunt onto the North Tower reflecting pool at Ground Zero in Manhattan on Monday
Jonathan Andrew Tijerina, 31, is facing criminal mischief charges after spraying the name of his gun control website over the names of the terror attack victims
In a statement, the 9/11 Memorial and Museums said after the stunt that it had removed the spray paint and re-opened the memorial site.
'The 9/11 Memorial is a sacred place of reflection at the heart of a rebuilt World Trade Center that honors the 2,983 victims killed in the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks,' a spokesperson told CBS New York.
'Yesterday’s brief incident was swiftly addressed by security staff and law enforcement, and the impacted area was immediately restored to its commemorative state.'
Tijerina's website advocates for 'nonviolent civil resistance', and states that 'civil resistance is proven to change laws and society.'
In his Instagram post, he described himself as an 'experienced civil-resistance organizer', and said he has been 'arrested in multiple states for nonviolent civil disobedience.'
'This recent action draws on a tradition of nonviolence intended to compel government action. He is taking responsibility for his actions and will face trial.'
Tijerina also cited a mass shooting at the Florida A&M homecoming football game over the weekend where 11 people were wounded as his reason for the graffiti stunt.
The saboteur proudly shared footage of his graffiti to Instagram from start to finish, showing himself walking up to the tribute and pulling out a red spray paint bottle before desecrating the names of the 9/11 victims
In the days before his vandalism stunt, Tijerina complained about a lack of attention on a week-long food fast he underwent to demand New York City builds two million housing units within five years
Following the spray painting stunt, Tijerina's social media was flooded with backlash after he shared the clips vandalizing the 9/11 Memorial.
In another video posted shortly before the stunt, Tijerina complained of a lack of attention on his activism, saying that he received no coverage of a seven day food fast he went on a week ago.
That fast was to demand two million units of housing to be created in New York City within five years, but Tijerina said he did not get the impact he hoped for.
He complained that despite claiming not to eat for a week, 'the city never reached out, the media never reported this.'
