A sculpture honouring Breonna Taylor was smashed by vandals in California over the weekend, in an incident now being investigated by police.
The memorial bust of the police shooting victim was installed in Latham Square in downtown Oakland just two weeks ago, but had large chunks broken off it sometime on Saturday according to local reports.
Artist Leo Carson, who sculpted the bust, told ABC7 News: “At first I was stunned and shocked and hurt and angry. Just a whole bunch of emotions.”
“It felt like I was personally attacked and also they attacked Breonna Taylor and the BLM movement.”
The sculpture includes a plaque that reads: “Say Her Name, Breonna Taylor”.
Ms Taylor was shot and killed in her home in Louisville, Kentucky during a no-knock police raid on 13 March.
The 26-year-old EMT technician had been sleeping alongside her boyfriend when police burst into their apartment believing drugs were being sold at the address.
Ms Taylor was shot six times and died at the scene.
Her death sparked outrage about police brutality, and when George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis just over two months later, that outrage turned into a massive nationwide Black Lives Matter protest movement with support flooding in from around the world.
While police investigate who may have damaged the sculpture, Mr Carson, who paid for it himself, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover repairs and have the bust bronzed to make it more durable.
ABC7 News reports law firm Cotchett, Pitre and McCarthy will donate $5,000 to cover the cost of having the bust cast in bronze.
