Business owners on downtown St. Petersburg's Central Avenue are outraged after discovering several murals around the city were recently defaced.
“We were all just kind of disgusted,” said All Sewn Up Boutique owner Rosanna Gahhos.
The person responsible wrote his Facebook page on the murals, which has since been deleted.
“We're extremely angry because there’s a lot of work and a lot of time [that goes into it]," said shop owner, Elizabeth Furlong. "I mean, I saw Pale Horse down there with a small paint brush painting every little square.”
Artist Daniel R-5 Barojas’ spent Sunday morning trying to repair his mural.
“Luckily for me it’s flat colors on this particular mural so I still had the paint," Barjoas said. "So I just came by with a paints and went over the areas where he had tagged over.”
Not all the artists are as lucky. It could take a lot of money to fix some of the other murals, which is why some of the store owners said they’re planning on raising money to help.
The vandal also painted right over the face of a mural that was made in memory of an artist who died. It’s one of the things that people here say makes this so disturbing.
“It’s the wrong kind of [recognition] that you want to get and it’s disrespectful to the artist that put in the work,” Barojas said.
Artists and business owners along Central Avenue say they’re optimistic that police will catch who ever did this.
“We’re not going to stop," said Gahhos. "We’re going to keep doing it. You tag we’re going to paint over it.”
Police are working to catch the person responsible.