A bust sculpture in honor of police-shot victim Breonna Taylor was destroyed by vandals over the weekend, according to reports prompting an investigation by Oakland police.
The monument, installed two weeks ago in downtown Latham Square, was destroyed in several places sometime on Saturday, KGO-TV, affiliated with ABC, reported.
The bust includes a plaque that reads, “Say her name, Breonna Taylor,” the station said.
“At first I was stunned and shocked and hurt and angry,” artist Leo Carson, who created the sculpture, told the outlet.
“Just a lot of emotions,” he said. “It felt like I was being attacked personally and they also attacked Breonna Taylor and the BLM movement.”
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT technician, was shot and killed at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, in a botched robbery on March 13.
Taylor’s death and George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis on May 25 were some of the catalysts that sparked massive Black Lives Matter protests around the world, including in the Bay Area city.
Oakland police said in a statement that the Taylor bust vandalism had been reported and police were investigating the incident, Mercury News said.
Carson said he paid for the picture “out of pocket.”
He hopes to raise enough money to fix the statue and get it tanned to make it more durable. He has launched a GoFundMe page with a goal of $ 5,000.