GARNER, N.C.— A person defaced a new mural at the newly constructed Garner Police station on Sunday, police said.
Garner’s new police station on 7th Avenue is in the finishing stages with police planning to move in soon.
A new mural was painted outside, but on Friday it was defaced with this message: “Kill A Cop, Save A Child.”
On Sunday, as news spread about the incident, the police chief was livid about the incident.
“A hate crime in my opinion; it must stop,” said Chief Brandon Zuidema.
“Disgusting act with absolutely no justification or reason,” Zuidema also Tweeted.
“That someone would choose not only to deface a mural that’s intended to be a community asset, but would deface it with the words ‘kill a cop’ on it, makes me sick,” said Zuidema.
A local artist spent hundreds of hours working on the mural in the 900 block of 7th Avenue in Garner.
“Hurtful, it was really hurtful for me to watch that happen to those officers. At first I was kind of mad that it happened to me. And then I realized it had nothing to do with me at all,” said the artist of the mural, Vincent Wood.
“Well, someone spray tagged my mural. Ruined over 200 hours work. Just heartbroke,” wrote Wood on Facebook.
The Garner Police are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the individual(s) responsible for defacing the mural.
“For this to happen makes me angry, makes me disgusted. And I’m going to see that I can do whatever I can do to get this person off the streets,” said Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams.
On Sunday, Wood vowed he would re-paint the mural.
“To the vandal that tagged our mural… I am gonna make it better than it was gonna be. You can’t beat me, chump, I am from Garner,” he wrote.
