Jonathan Tijerina

Introduction

Jonathan Andrew Tijerina — a 31-year-old New York gun-control activist — was arrested on October 26, 2026, after red spray paint reading “juststopkillingkids.com” was scrawled across the bronze panels engraved with victims’ names at the 9/11 Memorial’s North Pool in lower Manhattan. Tijerina did not deny the act: he recorded the vandalism start to finish, posted the video to his own Instagram channel, and identified himself on camera as the tagger. He was charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments, with police putting the damage at over $2,550, and was awaiting arraignment as of the evening of October 27.

Background Information

Little is publicly documented about Tijerina beyond his activism. He runs the “Just Stop Killing Kids” campaign and its juststopkillingkids.com website, which promotes “nonviolent civil resistance” as the way to change laws and society and states two demands: universal background checks for gun purchases and a national gun registry — “both have majority public support,” the site says, and “neither requires repealing the Second Amendment.” He cited the mass shooting after the Florida A&M homecoming football game among his reasons. Days before the memorial stunt, he had finished a seven-day fast demanding New York City build 2 million affordable housing units within five years, and complained publicly that the fast received no attention.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Arrested and charged. Tijerina was arrested October 26, 2026 — the same evening as the vandalism — and charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments; per the New York Daily News he was awaiting arraignment Tuesday evening, October 27. Police put the damage at more than $2,550. There is no plea, no trial date and no conviction; the charges are accusations. Unlike most subjects of these pages, Tijerina admits the conduct: he filmed himself doing it and promoted his own arrest as the intended point of the protest.

On the evening of Monday, October 26, 2026, Tijerina walked up to the 9/11 Memorial Reflecting Pool at the World Trade Center footprint, pulled a spray can from his bag and wrote “juststopkillingkids.com” in red across several bronze panels bearing the names of victims of the September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993, attacks, filming the entire stunt for Instagram. Port Authority Police said memorial staff notified them around 5 p.m. that an individual had already been detained at the north side of the North Pool, and that the vandalism was caught on surveillance camera. Ed Duffy, a 16-year-old visiting from the United Kingdom, told CBS News New York he watched it happen: “I saw somebody with red spray paint, and they sprayed ‘just stop killing kids’ over some of the names… within, like, less than a minute, the police came and arrested him.” A witness also identified Tijerina as the tagger, NYPD officials said.

Tijerina claimed the act himself within hours. “My name is Jon Tijerina and I’ve just spray-painted ‘just stop killing kids’ on the 9/11 Memorial,” he said in video posted to his Instagram channel, footage that showed him walking up to the memorial, tagging several panels and panning to the finished graffiti. His organization followed up announcing that “On October 26, 2026, Jon Tijerina was arrested for spraying red paint on Freedom Tower in NYC,” demanding that President Trump and Mayor Zohran Mamdani enforce universal background checks and a national gun registry. Police said the graffiti caused over $2,550 in damage to the memorial panels. Tijerina was arrested and transferred to Manhattan Central Booking for processing, according to Port Authority Police. Some reports spell his first name “Johnathan,” but the New York Post and Daily News both identify him as Jonathan Andrew Tijerina, 31, of New York.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum called the act a desecration of a sacred site and moved to contain the damage the same day: “The 9/11 Memorial is a sacred place of reflection at the heart of a rebuilt World Trade Center that honors the 2,983 victims killed in the September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks,” a spokesperson told CBS New York, saying security staff and law enforcement addressed the incident immediately and the impacted area was restored to its commemorative state. Coverage across New York and beyond framed the stunt less as protest than as vandalism of a terrorism memorial: the New York Post called it a “broad daylight political stunt” by a “gun control nut,” and CBS New York led with a suspect “facing charges.” Tijerina, for his part, promoted the arrest as a win, casting the criminal case as the cost of forcing a national audience onto demands he says a majority already supports.

Current Status

As of October 28, 2026, Tijerina has been charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments and transferred to Manhattan Central Booking; per the Daily News he was awaiting arraignment as of Tuesday evening, October 27, and no arraignment outcome, plea or trial date has been reported. No conviction has been entered and the charges remain unadjudicated. The memorial itself has already been repaired — the 9/11 Memorial announced the spray paint was removed and the impacted area returned to its commemorative state, and CBS New York reported no permanent damage. His campaign has not publicly indicated any legal defense strategy, and his juststopkillingkids.com site continues to state the same two gun-policy demands.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Tijerina spent months building a protest brand he said nobody was noticing — a weeklong fast for affordable housing that, by his own account, “didn’t receive any attention.” He got the attention he wanted on October 26, but with his name attached to the defacement of a memorial honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks rather than to his policy platform: the charges he now faces carry the possibility of a criminal record, and no major gun-safety organization has publicly endorsed the act. His campaign continues to publish his two demands, and the arrest itself has become the centerpiece of its messaging — the same video evidence police cite against him is the content his channels use to claim credit.

Sources

NY Post, “NYC gun control nut Jonathan Tijerina spray paints 9/11 Memorial in political stunt,” Oct 28, 2026 — source
New York Daily News, “Gun regulation activist arrested for graffitiing his web site on 9/11 Memorial,” Oct 27, 2026 — source
CBS New York, “9/11 Memorial in NYC vandalized, suspect facing charges, police say,” Oct 27, 2026 — source
News 12 Brooklyn, “Man arrested in connection with 9/11 Memorial Pool vandalism,” Oct 28, 2026 — source
Hindustan Times, “Johnathan Tijerina: Gun regulation activist charged over 9/11 Memorial vandalism,” Oct 28, 2026 — source
@nypost trigger tweet, Oct 28, 2026 — source