Oakland police are investigating an alleged act of vandalism after a bust of Breonna Taylor was smashed into pieces on Saturday (December 26).
According to multiple outlets, the sculpture, which featured the inscription, "Say Her Name Breonna Taylor," was installed two weeks ago in downtown Oakland by sculptor Leo Carson. Leo created the bust to honor the late 26-year-old EMT who was murdered by Louisville police earlier this year.
"This vandalism is an act of racist aggression, and it shows why sculpture and art matters," he said in a statement, per TMZ. "I made this sculpture to support the Black Lives Matter movement and while I'm overcome with rage and sadness at their cowardly act, their vandalism will make her even more potent."
"Looks like they hit it with a baseball bat along the back," he added, before noting that he doesn't believe the act was random. "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."
While there have been no leads in the case, Leo is already planning to rebuild the sculpture and has created a GoFundMe page to raise money to recast it. “I hope that it will inspire solidarity and that we can rebuild this you know even stronger than it was before,” he said.
Photo: Getty Images