A ceramic bust of Breonna Taylor, which was installed near Oakland's City Hall two weeks ago by a sculptor named Leo Carson, has been destroyed, CBS News reported.

Its artist, who was working as a food server before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the industry, said the apparent act of vandalism is an attack against the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Looks like they hit it with a baseball bat along the back," Carson said. "I don't think there's a single person in Oakland who doesn't know who Breonna Taylor is, and I don't think you attack a sculpture like that by accident. And I think that it was an act of racism and an act of aggression and intimidation."

But the sculptor plans to rebuild the bust for the EMT who was killed by police in her home in Louisville, Kentucky, in March.

"I hope that it will inspire solidarity and that we can rebuild this you know even stronger than it was before," said Carson, who has started a GoFundMe account to raise money for the rebuild.

The Bay Area man said he spent months working on the artwork installed at Latham Square in Downtown Oakland and it was beautiful to see people admiring the monument.

"It was incredible to see the community and neighbors taking photos and enjoying it," he wrote. "Now I am devastated and enraged to see it in pieces. This was an act of racist aggression and we need to show them we will not stand for it."

On Monday, December 21st there was a newly erected #SayHerName bust of Breonna Taylor in Downtown Oakland.

Today, the day after Christmas, it’s now destroyed.

Credit for the art is listed as Leo Carson / leo_carson_art on Instagram pic.twitter.com/jwu2H5A65s

— Amir Aziz (@aziaticblack) December 26, 2020

According to KQED, a suspect hasn't been identified, but a police report has been filed and the incident is under investigation. The Oakland Police Department said it is "aware of the incident regarding the vandalism of a bust honoring Breonna Taylor."

Joining the nationwide movement, Oakland has been organizing protests throughout the year and demanding the officers who killed Taylor be arrested. Cat Brooks, the co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, has been one of the activists leading the movement in the Bay Area.

“Breonna Taylor did not die in a vacuum. She died inside of a paradigm in this country where the lives of Black women and girls do not matter,” Brooks said during a rally in front of an Oakland mural honoring Taylor.

As Blavity previously reported, officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of "wanton endangerment" for firing into the apartments belong to Taylor's neighbors during the raid. Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron said the other two deputies, sergeant Jonathan Mattingly and detective Myles Cosgrove, were "justified in their use of force after being fired upon" by Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.

Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, took out a full-page advertisement in The Washington Post earlier this month to demand accountability from President-elect Joe Biden, urging the incoming administration to open “large scale federal investigations into cases of police brutality," as Blavity previously reported.

"Police barged into her home unannounced, in the middle of the night, gunned her down and killed her," Palmer stated in her letter. "Her murder sparked protests across America and inspired activists to demand accountability in policing across this nation. So far, we have seen none."

Leo Carson

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