Law enforcement officials in Montgomery, AL, say thieves raided the apartment where African-American civil rights icon Rosa Parks lived when she made history by refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a local city bus, leading to her arrest.

Montgomery police Sgt. Denise Barnes said detectives are seeking suspects who tore through the walls and stole copper wiring from Parks' former apartment at the Cleveland Court Apartment Complex, along with six other units that were under renovation. Police believe the theft occurred  between 4 PM Friday and early Monday; Barnes said workers discovered the damage Monday. The extent of the damage done was not disclosed. There were no guards posted at the time.

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Parks' former home at 634 Cleveland Court, shared by her husband, Raymond, and her mother, Leona McCauley, is listed as her address in the 1955 police report following her arrest by police. The refusal set off the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the biggest salvos in the early Civil Rights Movement, and made her a rallying point in the drive to end racial segregation in the United States. 

The building was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on March 30, 1989, and on the National Register of Historic Places on October 29, 2001. Along with her apartment, the No. 2857 bus that was the site of the incident is also preserved, and is displayed at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborne, MI. 

For her work, Parks is heralded as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement." Parks passed away in 2005 at the age of 92 in Detroit after a long illness.

The investigation is on-going and no reports of suspects have yet been made public. Metal theft is a growing industry and headache for local law enforcement. The Parks robbery follows closely to a Wall Street Journal report that copper prices are on the rise to $3 a pound.

TagsRosa Parks, copper theft, metal theft, Vandalism, 634 Cleveland Court