Ceramic sculpture of Breonna Taylor vandalized in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. — A ceramic bust of Breonna Taylor installed two weeks ago in a California park has been severely damaged by vandals, authorities said.

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Taylor, 26, was a Black woman shot and killed in March by police in Louisville, Kentucky, in her apartment.

The bust was installed on Dec. 12 in Oakland’s Latham Square, KRON-TV reported. It was created by Leo Carson, a sculptor who was working as a food server before the COVID-19 pandemic forced restrictions to the restaurant industry, KPIX reported.

“Looks like they hit it with a baseball bat along the back,” Carson told the television station. “I don’t think there’s a single person in Oakland who doesn’t know who Breonna Taylor is, and I don’t think you attack a sculpture like that by accident. And I think that it was an act of racism and an act of aggression and intimidation.”

The bust bore the phrase, “Say Her Name Breonna Taylor,” KGO reported.

Louisville police officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove arrived at Taylor’s home just after midnight on March 13 to execute a warrant on drug-related suspicions. Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he did not hear police announce themselves, but he did hear banging on the door. The officers used a battering ram to break in the door, and Walker grabbed his legally owned gun, believing intruders had broken into the home. He fired one warning shot, which struck Mattingly in the leg. The officer returned more than 30 rounds of gunfire throughout Taylor’s home, hitting her multiple times. She died from her wounds. There were no drugs in the home.

Carson told KRON that he created the sculpture to honor the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The attack on the sculpture was, you know, in some ways it felt like a personal attack because I put so much work and effort and so much of myself into it,” Carson told KRON. “But far more important than that was it was an attack on Breonna Taylor herself and on the Black Lives Matter movement.”

“The Oakland Police Department is aware of the incident regarding the vandalism of a bust honoring Breonna Taylor,” according to a statement from the department. “A report has been filed and the incident is under investigation.”

Carson said he will rebuild the bust, and has started a GoFundMe page to raise money to recast the statue in bronze.

Carson added that he set a goal of $5,000 and said that anything raised beyond that will be donated to Taylor’s family, KRON reported.

As of Monday evening, more than $10,800 had been raised.

Cox Media Group