Cincinnati police are looking into who vandalized the Black Lives Matter mural on Eighth and Ninth streets outside of City Hall. Police say someone poured red paint on the mural early Sunday morning.
Police released surveillance video of what appears to be one person throwing paint on the mural. If you have any information about the incident, police ask that you call Crimestoppers at 513-352-3040.
Surveillance video footage of the @CityOfCincy Black Lives Matter mural being damaged on 7/12/20 @ 2:20 a.m. Please call @CincyPD_3523040 w/ any information about who was involved in this incident. pic.twitter.com/FDyLbbrbkn
— Cincinnati Police Department (@CincyPD) July 15, 2020
Artists painted the mural about a month ago. Each letter of the mural was designed and painted by a Black artist and a team of assistants. The mural was paid for with private donations.
It came after a series of largely peaceful protests in the city over the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of police, and was the brain child of Alandes Powell, a former board chair of The Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio, who started a GoFundMe on June 15. In two days it raised more than $100,000 of its $150,000 goal.
The mural was completed Friday, June 19, also known as Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the ending of slavery in the United States.
That day, Powell called the mural a "bat signal."
"I think that's the only thing I can make everyone white and black connect with: Batman," she said. "You show a signal when you need help." .
Correction: This story has been updated to correct when the mural was vandalized to early Sunday morning, not Tuesday night as previously stated by WVXU.
