MINNEAPOLIS – Displays and a structure at George Floyd Square in south Minneapolis were vandalized late at night over the weekend by a man with an ax in an act captured on video.
The damage occurred about 2 a.m. Sunday at 38th and Chicago, the intersection that has been an informal gathering place and remembrance since Floyd was killed by police on May 25, 2020.
"This was particularly upsetting that this would happen after the historic trial and the upcoming memorial," said LaToya Evans, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit that is organizing a celebration of Floyd's life on the anniversary of his killing by convicted murderer Derek Chauvin.
Evans said repairs have been made after "this unfortunate act of vandalism," Evans said.
The surveillance video showed a man arriving in a pickup truck and striding toward the square, where he tore down signs and threw items out of a shed.
He then retrieved an ax from his pickup bed and took several whacks at the brightly colored shed before a square caretaker shouted at him to leave.
The man drove off but left the ax — and presumably, his fingerprints — behind.
Police spokesman John Elder said the incident has yet to be reported to police.
The square has been the target of vandals on occasion in the past year. Last month, a billboard promoting nonviolence at the site was transformed into a pro-violence message. "Don't let anyone convince you that nonviolence is ineffective" was altered when someone covered up the "non-."
A mural painted on the side of Cup Foods, where Floyd was killed, has been defaced multiple times but continues to be preserved by the square's caretakers.
