Murdered Rapper's Name Defaces Cherished Chinatown Mural--Again
CHICAGO (CBS)--A Chinatown community that banded together to pay for the restoration of a colorful hand-painted mural that had been defaced with graffiti had their spirits crushed again Friday by a vandal. This is the second time the mural was defaced.
Artists spent months creating a beautiful mural in a Chinatown park, but the concrete canvas was scarred by silver lettering spelling out the name of rapper XXXTentacion, who was killed in Florida earlier this summer.
Chester Chow, along with Andy Bellomo and Anna Murphy created the mural.
The community cherished the mural for the new life it brought to a dull underpass wall, and raised nearly $3,000 on a GoFundMe page to help pay for the restoration costs.
Not long after it was restored back to its original glory, the community is back at square one.
Artist Chester Chow told CBS 2's Vince Gerasole about the great deal of effort the community put into restoring the mural at Ping Tong Park.
"It was delightful--they said it was beautiful," Chow said.
Because XXXTentacion's name appears again, it's likely the same vandal. Before he was murdered, he was arrested numerous times including domestic abuse against his pregnant girlfriend.
It is unknown if both incidents involve the same vandal.