Davis Woman Says George Floyd Mural Stolen From Community Fence
DAVIS (CBS13) — There are murals and different signs in support for George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement all over, including at places like Central Park in Davis.
Virgine Bock wanted to bring murals to her own neighborhood.
"Maybe a week or 10 days after the death of George Floyd, we reached out to a friend of the family who is a young artist and ask him if he could do something for us," Bock said.
The artist painted murals of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter movement for Bock and her community to hang on the surrounding fence. But later, thieves would strike, stealing the portrait of George Floyd.
"It was stolen over the weekend," Bock said.
An upsetting sight for something Bock says struck a chord with her neighbors.
"I heard that a lot of people stopped by. A lot of people stopped by and put flowers," Bock said.
"People have come with their little kids and talked about conversations that are difficult," Rhonda David, Neighbor, said. "Even though it got stolen it had such a light for the two or three weeks that we had it here."
The artist, Gregory Shilling, wonders why specifically this mural was taken.
"The fact that the Black Lives Matter mural stayed up and the portrait of George Floyd came down is kind of confusing to me," Shilling said. "Because, at first I thought, it would be people who didn't want Black Live Matter messaging to be out in the community because they think it's too controversial."
Bock told CBS13 she felt that the mural would get stolen because of how well it was made.
"His response was like, 'You know if it gets stolen, I'm just hoping it's for a good cause,'" Bock said. "I'm hoping it's someone who stole it for the message and appreciate the art."
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Certainly, the community would like to see it returned and are believing there's a message that still needs to be heard.
"It spread a lot of conversation within families and that was our hope," Bock said.
"I think we can learn from it and all we got to do is not let us stop us," Shilling said. "After all it was just a sheet with some paint on it. I can make another; you know? You can't replace the lives lost. You can replace the art."
Bock said she didn't file a police report for the stolen mural because they truly don't know if someone took for their own enjoyment or if it was malicious.
