A bust sculpture in honor of police shooting victim Breonna Taylor was destroyed by vandals over the weekend, prompting an Oakland police investigation, according to reports.
The memorial, installed two weeks ago in downtown Latham Square, was smashed in several places on Saturday, ABC affiliate KGO-TV reported.
The bust includes a plaque that says, “Say her name, Breonna Taylor,” the station said.
“At first, I was stunned, shocked, hurt and angry,” artist Leo Carson, who created the sculpture, told the artist.
“Just a lot of emotions,” he said. “It seemed to me that they attacked me personally and also attacked Breonna Taylor and the BLM movement.”
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT technician, was shot dead at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, during an March 13 raid.
Taylor’s death, and the death of George Floyd from police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, were one of the catalysts that sparked massive Black Lives Matter protests around the world, including the city of the bay.
Oakland police said in a statement that a report had been filed on vandalism of Taylor’s bust and that police were investigating the incident, Mercury News said.
Carson said he paid for the statue “out of my pocket.”
He hopes to raise enough money to repair the statue and tan it to make it more durable. He has launched a GoFundMe page with a goal of $ 5,000.