CINCINNATI (AP) — Police in Cincinnati are asking the public for help in identifying the man who poured red paint on the block-long “Black Lives Matter” mural in front of city hall.
Police have released surveillance video from early Sunday morning showing a man with his face covered at the scene. It appears that the man or someone else then drove over the wet paint, leaving tire tracks, news outlets reported.
The mural was officially dedicated June 19 amid protests across the nation against racial injustice and police brutality following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It was created by teams of dozens of Black artists.
The “Black Lives Matter” mural in Cincinnati is one of several around the country to have been vandalized in recent weeks. New York City police on Tuesday released surveillance photos and video of a man seen Monday splashing red paint on the “Black Lives Matter” street mural in front of Trump Tower. Last week, two people were charged with hate crimes after defacing a city-sanctioned “Black Lives Matter” mural in Northern California.
Murals in Park City, Utah; Orlando, Florida; Charlotte, North Carolina, and outside Vermont’s statehouse have also been damaged.