Antwon Rose Jr. Mural In Pittsburgh Vandalized
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- For the second time in as many weeks, the Black Lives Matter mural in downtown Pittsburgh along the Allegheny River has been vandalized. Now Pittsburgh Police are looking into this latest incident.
Someone wrote "thug" over the face of Antwon Rose II and out x's over his eyes. Rose was shot and killed by an East Pittsburgh police officer in 2018.
To whomever did it, Mary Boerio has a message: "Get a life. Do something positive with this energy."
"It's really sad that people have so much hate in their heart that they would want to destroy this monument," Boerio said while looking at the mural.
Other parts of the mural said "F*** BLM." It was found in multiple spots, including the Roberto Clemente Bridge.
The mural was painted earlier this year after George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis Police. Boerio watched as the mural was started and noticed the sense of unity it created.
"Everyone else that I saw walking by would stop and say something positive to the artists and I think people felt like it was bringing the community together in a time of unrest," she said.
The area was the subject of a police investigation last week when paintballs were shot at the Black Lives Matter mural. At this time, investigators are still looking for them.
PennDOT released a statement, saying:
In general, our approach to removal of graffiti is to schedule the area for removal when resources are available; however, currently, our priority is our maintenance work on matters of immediate public safety and repairs to keep roads safe and passable. We are reviewing contractor capacity and resources available to address the area in question. PennDOT is also working with Riverlife Pittsburgh, which previously expressed an interest in utilizing the area for a temporary art and community engagement installation. The recent reports and video of these images being vandalized is extremely disturbing.