“If we didn’t do anything this thing could get out of hand,” Johnson told the news site. “We want people to understand we don’t want to see this kind of thing happening. They need to know they can’t go around doing whatever they want to our statues.”<doc-sep>Officials in Savannah, Georgia, are looking for the person who placed googly eyes on a historic monument. The eyes were put on a statue of Nathanael Greene sitting in Johnson Square in Savannah, the city said in a post on Facebook. "Who did this?!" the city wrote in its post. "It may look funny but harming our historic monuments and public property is no laughing matter, in fact, it's a crime." City officials are encouraging anyone with information to contact the Savannah Police Department. According to local NBC station WSAV, Savannah police responded to Johnson Square for a trespassing report and confirmed the googly eyes were on the statue. Police are reviewing camera footage to see if they can identify a suspect, the report said. Nathanael Greene was a major general with the Continental Army and served under George Washington during the Revolutionary War. According to the Georgia Historical Society, Greene's remains were placed under the monument in 1902. Although the city wasn't laughing at the addition of googly eyes to the monument, plenty of commenters on Facebook had some fun with the discovery. "Whoever posted this, does not understand how the internet works," one Facebook commenter wrote. Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.<doc-sep>After police shared that they were investigating the situation, the internet poked fun at the sticky situation. Someone Put Googly Eyes on a Statue in Savannah and Police Are Not Amused Things got sticky in Georgia this week after a historical monument was given googly eyes. The Savannah Police Department is currently searching for the suspect who is responsible for adding a new feature to the Nathanael Greene Monument, reports WSAV. Get push notifications with news, features and more. SPD arrived at Johnson Square on Thursday afternoon after they received a call about a trespasser, and noticed that the statue — which had been there since 1902 — now had some hard-to-miss eyes. The statue of Greene, a former Savannah resident, was created in honor of the officer’s service and leadership during the Revolutionary War. He is considered one of the country’s top officers from the war — just second to George Washington. Needless to say, local police were not amused by the prank and immediately removed the eyes from the statue, WSAV said. googly-eyes-monument-1 Googly eyes on the Nathanael Greene Monument in Johnson Square | Credit: City of Savannah/Facebook Although no damage was caused by the removal process, the person who gave Greene his eyes is facing a trespassing charge — since the person had to jump the fence around the historical monument — and now, the city is out to find the person behind the prank. In Georgia, criminal trespass — which includes “defacing, mutilating or defiling” a monument to a deceased person who served in the military — is considered a misdemeanor offense, but can be deemed a felony if the damage exceeds $500. “Who did this?! Someone placed googly eyes on our historic #NathanaelGreene statue in #JohnsonSquare,” the City of Savanah said in a statement on Facebook. “It may look funny but harming our historic monuments and public property is no laughing matter, in fact, it’s a crime.” Meanwhile, the Internet found humor in the googly eye joke, with many Facebook users commenting on the city’s post, claiming the issue was not as important as others in the community and sharing their own comical googly eye memes. “I always wanted to visit Savannah, but now that I see how unsafe it is, no thanks! I’ll consider it once they catch this psychopath. Is the FBI involved yet?” one user sarcastically wrote. RELATED VIDEO: 10-Year-Old Boy Hopes to Save America’s National Monuments for Future Generations “So I’m not a part of this community or anything, but you guys do realize you just dared your entire city to googly eyes all of your monuments right?” added someone else. “Just pick the eyes off and move on.” “There’s literally a town that’s completely leveled right now and we are worried about $2 eyeballs that barely stick on a good day?” another user wrote, referencing Hurricane Michael. “Let’s worry about something a little more serious. It’d cost 50x more just to put them in jail for a day.”<doc-sep>
Police in Savannah, Ga., are looking for answers after a statue of a Revolutionary War general was defaced with “googly eyes.” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday that local police were investigating after a query from city officials about the vandalism of Savannah's Nathanael Greene Monument went viral earlier this week. “Who did this?! Someone placed googly eyes on our historic #NathanaelGreene statue in #JohnsonSquare,” the official City of Savannah Government account wrote on its Facebook page in a post Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT “It may look funny but harming our historic monuments and public property is no laughing matter, in fact, it's a crime,” the post continued. The post has racked up more than 16,000 shares in the past two days. Bianca Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Savannah Police Department, told BuzzFeed News that authorities have been reviewing surveillance footage of the statue and said the vandalism would constitute trespassing. “If we didn’t do anything this thing could get out of hand,” Johnson continued. “We want people to understand we don’t want to see this kind of thing happening. They need to know they can’t go around doing whatever they want to our statues.” According to a Georgia law cited in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, defacing, defiling or mutilating a grave marker, monument or memorial devoted to a deceased person who served in the military is considered criminal trespass, which is a misdemeanor offense. Johnson confirmed that the googly eyes did not damage the statue. Greene served as a major general in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and is buried in the city's Johnson Square.