{"id":339984,"date":"2026-03-21T00:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/339984\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T00:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T00:47:09","slug":"vandal-causes-over-240k-of-damage-to-glass-chihuly-sculptures-near-seattle-space-needle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/339984\/","title":{"rendered":"Vandal causes over $240K of damage to glass Chihuly sculptures near Seattle Space Needle"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 40-year-old man was arrested on Monday for allegedly causing over $240,000 worth of damage at the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at the foot of Seattle\u2019s famed Space Needle, according to police.<\/p>\n

Alexander Taylor Weis was found damaging the exhibit\u2019s glass plant sculptures inside a secure area of the museum late Monday night, police said. When approached by museum security, he threw broken glass and attempted to stab a security guard with a glass shard, according to police.<\/p>\n

“When the defendant was confronted by the victim, who was a security guard at the Seattle Center, the defendant hurled a longer piece of glass like a javelin at him,” charging documents obtained by NBC News said.<\/p>\n

It is unknown how Taylor gained access to the area, which the security guard said was locked at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n

Seattle Center Security <\/a>reported that about 12 items were damaged or destroyed at the museum, which houses a collection by renowned blown glass artist Dale Chihuly.<\/p>\n

\"ShardsShards of broken glass after vandalism at the Chihuly Garden and Glass.Seattle Police Dept. <\/p>\n

Officers arrived on the scene to find \u201clarge pieces of colorful broken glass on the walking path and scattered around the area,\u201d the Seattle Police Department said.<\/p>\n

Taylor was tazed and eventually taken into custody while initially being combative and refusing to follow commands, according to a release from the Seattle Police Department.<\/a><\/p>\n

He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of burglary, assault, and malicious mischief, according to a spokesperson for the correctional facility. <\/p>\n

He is being held on $100,000 bail based on the likelihood that the he might commit a violent offense. <\/p>\n

“The defendant\u2019s wanton and malicious acts of destruction coupled with his attempts to hit a security guard with a large piece of glass when the guard tried to stop him gives the State concern for the safety of the community and also for the defendant\u2019s likelihood of committing a violent offense,” the charging documents read.<\/p>\n

Taylor has a 2023 misdemeanor conviction for negligent driving and a pending charge for malicious mischief from earlier this year, according to the charging documents. It’s unclear if he has any legal representation.<\/p>\n

His next court appearance will be March 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 40-year-old man was arrested on Monday for allegedly causing over $240,000 worth of damage at the Chihuly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-339984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}