Local party leaders react to vandalism at St. Joseph County GOP headquarters

That vandalism included spray-painted profanity on the building windows regarding ICE, comparing the group to Nazis.

The graffiti comes amid ongoing ICE operations in Minneapolis, where two American citizens have been killed in the past few weeks.

Ranjan Rohatgi, St. Joseph County Council candidate for District B, says vandalism is going too far.

"Regardless of the reason for it, there's no place for that in our society. I understand why people are angry but vandalism is not the response we should have." said Rohatgi.

St. Joe County Republican Sheriff Candidate, Rod Laureys, condemned the action and demanded the vandals be brought to justice.

"Grow up. Use constitutional means to get your point across and we'll honor that." said Laureys.

Both sides agreed it was important to come to a peaceful solution locally, even if there were still disagreements higher up.

"Of course we can disagree on politics, on budgets, on zoning, those issues at the local level. But we can't disagree on...people have died. Let's figure out exactly why, and let's move forward." said Rohatgi.

"I have hope we can still work things out and discuss these issues. The problem is, I don't believe the other side is that open to it. We see it across the country; they go out there and aggressively protest." said Laureys.

County GOP Chair, Jackie Horvath, tells us there's no security footage of the vandals that they know of, but the South Bend Police Department is handling the case.

SBPD shared that their Detective's Bureau was working on the investigation.