(CNN) — A mural of George Floyd in Houston was vandalized, Police Chief Troy Finner said Thursday.
The vandalism was carried out overnight by “some knucklehead” and he doesn’t “know what their motivation is, hate, or whatever,” Finner said.
CNN affiliate KTRK reported the mural in Floyd’s hometown was defaced with a racial epithet which was then covered up and the painting restored by the artist who created it.
Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than 9 minutes last year. Chauvin was found guilty Tuesday of all three charges against him in one of the most consequential trials of the Black Lives Matter era. He will be sentenced in June.
Chief Finner said the Chauvin verdict had left some people upset and others pleased, but he encouraged the community to stick together and keep the peace in the city.
“But one thing I want to say about Houston, Texas. We stick together. My friends, some of the people and things that I’ve been talking about over the last couple of weeks, us sticking together, and when you see something, you say something. We got the call and HPD are here,” he said.
“I want everybody to understand, ignore people with bad hearts and bad motivation, do not give them the power,” he added.
And he warned the vandals that if they keep doing this they will be held accountable.
President Biden called the guilty verdict in the Chauvin trial an indictment on unjust policing. “We can’t stop here,” he said, noting that “in order to deliver real change and reform, we can and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this will ever happen or occur again.”
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