Two men have landed on federal authorities’ radar after the pair were seen on video pushing boulders over at a Nevada national park this month — apparently while a frightened daughter of one of the suspects watched.
The National Park Service said Saturday that park rangers are looking for the vandals who appeared in a viral video on April 7 disturbing the incredible rock formations in a part of Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
The video shows a heavyset man in a red top and a skinnier man in a dark top at the Redstone Dune Trail topple two large rocks off the side of an incline.
“He’s gonna fall,” said a man in the background who appeared to be recording the vandalism from a distance.
In one snippet, a young girl yells, “Daddy, don’t fall” as the man in the dark struggles to move a rock, according to KVVU.
She then screamed, “Daddy, daddy!” The same man nearly fell as he dislodged one of the formations before regaining his footing.
A National Park Service official called the vandalism “almost a personal attack in a way.”
“That’s so beautiful, it’s one of my favorite places in the park and they’re up there just destroying it. I don’t understand that,” John Haynes, a public information officer at the park, said in an interview with KVVU.
The park is 1.5 million acres large with two massive lakes and a part of the Colorado River.
If the two men are caught, the charges could land them in prison for six months and a $5,000 fine, Haynes told the station.
“Information from visitors is often very helpful to investigators,” the National Park Service said in a statement seeking the public’s help.
“If you were on the Redstone Dunes Trail on the evening of Sunday, April 7, 2024, or if you have information that could help identify the suspects, please submit a tip. You don’t have to tell us who you are, but please tell us what you know.”