A community which rallied to remember the victims of 9/11 saw their memorial vandalised with sick 'Taliban' graffiti.
The September 11 attacks took place 20 years ago on Saturday, with nearly 3,000 innocent people killed.
South Carolina firm Upstate Granite Solutions built the memorial, which includes two black towers and American flags at its base, The Sun reported.
Despite local support for the memorial, bright orange graffiti reading "TALIBAN" was sprayed onto the base and one of the towers over the weekend.
Police swiftly removed the paint and filed a report to catch the perpetrators.
Upstate Granite Solutions CEO Paul Nichols told local news the memorial was intended to bring people together.
He told CBS17 it was built to "unite over the memory of those who died" and for the "first responders who willingly laid down their lives.
"We spent the time and money on this monument in order to bring our community together."
Paul's wife Kelly Nichols told Fox Carolina: "We were hurt by it, upset, I mean not really angry with the person who did it.
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"This was meant to unify our community, so we don’t need to have more hatred toward someone.
"This is meant to unify us, to support our first responders, support our military and to just encourage people that America still has something to believe in."
The firm added a defiant message on Facebook to spite the vandals.
They wrote: "Takes more than a little spray paint to destroy our spirit of patriotism!"
This weekend's anniversary of the tragic terrorist attack grabbed global attention and forced victims' families to reflect on the incident.
Navy pilot Brian Sweeney's wife remembered him calling her to say she should "have good times" without him, knowing he was going to do.
Meanwhile celebrities including Michael Jackson and Sarah Ferguson were achingly close to being in the World Trade Center when the attacks happened.
Fergie was 20 minutes late for a charity meeting on the 101st floor of the North Tower due to traffic, ultimately saving her life.
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