LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A new mural of Breonna Taylor on a recently renovated basketball court in Lannan Park in the Portland neighborhood has been vandalized.
The massive mural, which The Russ Smith Foundation and Metro Councilwoman Donna Purvis, D-5th District, partnered on to unveil June 4, appeared to have tire tracks on it in three different places, according to video and photos from Antonio Taylor.
Antonio Taylor, an online radio personality, 502 Livestreamer and Jefferson County Public Schools employee who has participated in Breonna Taylor protests, posted a live stream video Friday night and photos of the vandalism while he was at the court with several others.
He also spoke in the video with a man who runs a baseball league at Lannan Park, 901 N. 26th St., who said the vandalism had been present for "a couple days" and that "somebody drove across" the court.
Antonio Taylor later told The Courier Journal he learned the vandalism took place sometime on Tuesday and that plans are in place to remove it from the court.
"I'm just in shock that this memorial, beautiful memorial, has already been vandalized," said Antonio Taylor, also a member of the city's recently formed Civilian Review and Accountability Board. "It's crazy."
He also noted security cameras were set up in the park as part of the installation of the new mural and renovated court, with loud speakers even telling him and his group to leave the park Friday night.
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"This was one of the fears," Antonio Taylor said. "One of the fears was that this vandalism was going to happen. That's why they got the cameras up in a couple different spots. ...There were some people in the Portland area who did not want this mural here."
Police have not announced any arrests in connection with the vandalism.
A group of local and national artists created the mural of Taylor, the 26-year-old Black woman whom LMPD officers fatally shot in March 2020 during a botched drug raid at her home.
The mural was unveiled the day before what would have been Taylor's 28th birthday.
Last August, amid ongoing protests over Taylor's death, an unknown perpetrator smeared red paint across an image of the woman that was featured on a billboard in Louisville's Irish Hill neighborhood.
Reach Billy Kobin at [email protected].
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