$9,000 sculpture damaged in downtown Sioux Falls, police say

The Sioux Falls Police Department is investigating the circumstances behind a damaged sculpture in downtown.

The incident happened at about 11:30 p.m. Friday in the 100 block of N. Phillips Avenue, according to police spokesperson Sam Clemens.

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The sculpture, named "Miss" and created by artist Xu LongHua, is valued at $9,000 and was split in two. It was installed last weekend near Wells Fargo along Phillips Avenue as part of this year's outdoor SculptureWalk Sioux Falls series downtown. The event is the largest annual exhibit of public sculptures in the world, according to the SculptureWalk Sioux Falls website.

Surveillance footage from the area showed a group of people near the sculpture, but Clemens said police are unsure if they are responsible.

Half of the sculpture was taken from the scene and recovered Saturday afternoon near Ninth Street and Phillips Avenue.

Police are unsure how the sculpture was broken. It was off its display completely as of Monday morning.

SculptureWalk posted about the incident on social media and urged anybody with information of what happened contact police.

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