A $2,500 reward is being offered for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the two suspects who vandalized a Breonna Taylor mural in her hometown.
The mural, which was created on a basketball court at Lannan Park, was destroyed a day before what would have been Taylor’s 28th birthday. The Louisville Metro Council released a video of the vandalism, which showed two people walking and driving their motorbikes back and forth across the mural, leaving tire tracks in three different places.
Comacell Brown Jr., the artist who created the painting, said the work will be restored.
“My team and I are disappointed and perplexed as to why someone would disrespect such a sentimental memorial that displays the unity and rebuild of a city and its communities after all they’ve been through,” he said in a statement.
Taylor was 26 when she was shot and killed by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers in her home last year as they were conducting a search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a warning shot against the cops, who he believed were intruders. The LMPD officers returned fire and Taylor was shot several times. None of the officers were charged for her death, however, three of them were fired and one recently retired.
Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, said she wants charges for the two people who vandalized her daughter’s mural. “It’s very disappointing and heartbreaking that other people of the community would go to this length to say a Black woman’s life didn’t matter, a woman who still deserves justice today,” she said.
“But know that you did not hurt Breonna, the system already did that. What you did was hinder the healing process going on in the city,” Palmer added. “I hope that when you are caught you face charges for your heinous acts and you know you failed the city and the community with your disregard for a Black life, a woman’s life, a life that has brought this city and its communities together like never before.”
Check out the surveillance video of the vandalism below.