On Tuesday afternoon, police apprehended a man caught in the act of vandalizing the Pink Triangle, San Francisco’s annual and iconic Pride Month commemoration atop Twin Peaks.

The nearly acre-wide art installation overlooking the Castro District was defaced with black spray paint. 19-year-old Lester Bamacajeronimo of San Francisco was apprehended at around 12:30 p.m. shortly after police arrived on the scene and gave chase.

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“Officers pursued the male suspect on foot and detained him,” SFPD said in a statement. “Evidence of vandalism tools were located and seized. Charges are pending.”

A motive in the crime has yet to be determined.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie condemned the vandalism as “hateful.”

“This Pride Month, we commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Pink Triangle, a powerful installation that celebrates the resilience of our LGBTQ+ community. This hateful act of vandalism does not reflect San Francisco’s values and will not be tolerated,” Lurie said in a statement.

Founder of the Triangle Project, Patrick Carney, described the damage as foot-wide zigzagging lines that run back and forth across the installation.

Twenty-six of the 175 tarps that comprise the massive triangle were damaged, he told KRON News.

Pink paint will likely be used to restore the damaged tarps, Carney said. “However, that’s a temporary fix, and we’ll still have to throw those tarps away.”

Carney said anti-transgender stickers had been popping up near the triangle prior to yesterday’s vandalism. He and other community members have responded by covering them up with tape or scratching them out.

The Pink Triangle has been subject to violence before, with several of the pink canvas tarps set ablaze during Pride Month in 2009. The triangle has been graffitied at least twice in the past, Carney said.

The Pink Triangle first appeared as a rogue art installation high above the city in 1995, reclaiming the symbol gay people were identified with by the Nazi regime in Germany in the 1930s and ’40s.

Hundreds of volunteers gather annually to put the triangle together at the beginning of June.

California state Sen. Scott Wiener (D) called the vandalism a “horrific attack on the LGBTQ community.”

“The Pink Triangle is a symbol of our community’s resilience in the face of hatred and violence,” Wiener said in a statement. “We’re not going anywhere, and no amount of vandalism or violence will change that.”

The triangle will remain atop Twin Peaks until after San Francisco’s Pride parade and festival on June 29.