GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The memorial for fallen Grand Rapids Police Officer Robert Kozminski has been defaced.

Someone spray-painted the word pig on the memorial located in Richmond Park.

The family found the mess Sunday morning after a night of rioting in Grand Rapids. His family tried to clean some of the paint off. The back was painted as well. Faces of other fallen officers were blacked out with paint.

“I was horrified. I was absolutely horrified. I cannot believe that in this day and age that people resort to these infantile things that they do,” Kozminski’s mother, Maria said. “Is this what Dr. Martin Luther King wanted for this county? Is this what Abraham Lincoln wanted for this country? No. Until we get back to the respect for law enforcement, these riots, these burnings, they are not going to end.”

She understands that people are upset about what happened to George Floyd and says she sympathizes with them but stresses that not all officers are bad.

“Horrible crime against him,” she said about the death of Floyd.

“There are in every walk of life there are going to be people who are not even doing their job; doctors, lawyers and law enforcement is no different. There are bad seeds in law enforcement and what happened to the gentleman broke my heart and what happened to the gentleman who was jogging it broke my heart.”

Her son was killed in the line of duty back in 2007. He was responding to a domestic disturbance at a home when a man shot and killed him. He was 29 years old. Matia says the acts we saw late last night don’t help anyone heal.

“You know we are all part of the human race regardless of what our skin color is. And we all have to unite and stop this senseless violence,” she said.

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On Monday morning, News 8 received several photos of residents cleaning up the vandalized memorial. View the gallery below.