The ceramic statue of Breonna Taylor, the victim of a police shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, was vandalized in Oakland, California over the weekend.
The statue, which was installed in Latham Square on Dec. 12, was found with chunks of ceramic missing, Kron4 news reported.
Breonna Taylor sculpture smashed by vandals in California https://t.co/dGG5QnsdEr pic.twitter.com/pKurn0THA5
— New York Post (@nypost) December 28, 2020
The statue of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police officers in Louisville during a raid earlier this year, was erected as a tribute to honor Taylor.
“I think it was an act of racist aggression,” Leo Carson, the sculptor of the statue stated, according to Kron4. Carson has plans to re-build the statue using broken pieces that he was able to salvage. (RELATED: Breonna Taylor’s Boyfriend Receives $100,000 From Tyler Perry For Defense Fund)
Carson explained that the vandalism of the sculpture “felt like a personal attack” due to the amount of work that he put into building it. However, Carson stressed that he believed it was more of an “attack on Breonna Taylor.”
A GoFundMe page has been started by Carson in order to raise the money needed to repair and rebuild the statue in bronze. The GoFundMe page has a goal to raise $5,000. Carson said that any money received after they surpass their goal will go towards Breonna Taylor’s family.