Vandals target mural festival in downtown Houston
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- What started out as an attempt to beautify Houston east downtown turned into a cleanup effort. A vandal targeted works of art just created for the city's first "HUE Mural Festival."
Eyewitness News actually first spotted the damage around 4am this morning. Our reporter Steve Campion was on location preparing for live reports about the event when it became clear someone had damaged them overnight. Fresh blue paint had been tossed on a mural by street artist "GONZO247" and vulgarities had been spray painted on a mural honoring our country. We caught up with GONZO247 when he arrived to fix his creation.
"Disappointment. Nothing short of disappointment," said GONZO247. "Everything was great. We had artists here working until 10 o'clock. That's when we start shutting down. It happened between then the time you got here."
Surveillance video captured a shadowy figure walking behind a business around 2:15 AM. He had his face covered and was armed with a paint can. In the footage, you can clearly see him splash it on the mural and later spray paint them. If you recognize him, call Crime Stoppers 713-222-TIPS.
Event organizers said the show must go. The necessary fixes will happen before tomorrow's big event. It is open to the public. For more information, visit http://www.huemuralfestival.com/
