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    Saturday, May 11, 2024

    Nipsey Hussle mural in Hartford skate park vandalized

    A mural of slain rapper Nipsey Hussle at a popular Hartford skate park was vandalized over the weekend.

    The incident apparently occurred Saturday, when an unidentified woman was filmed by several people on their cell phones while spray painting cherries and other images over the mural. Several people can be seen in the video holding up their phones to capture the incident; one woman is heard in the video repeatedly telling the woman vandalizing the mural: “Not his face! Just don’t do his face!”

    The video of the incident began circulating on social media Sunday, along with selfies of the unidentified woman standing in front of the mural with the graffiti tags in the background. A Facebook page apparently connected with the woman had received multiple threats as the story continued to spread. While the woman appears to identify herself in the video, The Courant is not publishing her identity because of threats made against her on social media.

    What appears to be the full video of the incident can be found here. Please be advised that this video contains potentially offensive and graphic language.

    By Sunday morning, it appeared as though someone had made an effort to cover the graffiti with blue paint on the portion of the mural with Hussle’s face on it. Later Sunday afternoon two woman were seen on a live Facebook video in the rain fixing up both parts of the mural and restoring it completely.

    The striking mural of Hussle was painted earlier this month by Corey Pane, a local artist, better known for painting the athletic shoes of NFL players.

    “I always respected him more as a person than even his music and I just wanted to honor that,'' Pane said after finishing the mural.

    Pane could not be reached for comment Sunday. It is unclear if he or someone else painted over the graffiti.

    In the video, multiple bystanders are both seen and heard in the background. No one intervened to stop the woman for the duration of the nearly 7 minute video.

    Known as Heaven skate park, the mass of brick and concrete is located at the intersection of Trumbull and Main streets in the center of the city. Since it opened in 2014, it has become a popular spot for skateboarders and also for artists, as there are murals painted all over the walls of the entire roughly two-block park.

    The mural has become a gathering place for everyone, from inner city high school students to downtown workers on a lunch break, to pay their respects to Hussle, who was gunned down on March 31 outside his store, Marathon Clothing, in South Los Angeles.

    Eric Holder, a 29-year-old man who had confronted Hussle earlier in the day, was arrested and charged with murder on April 2, 2019. His case is still pending.

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