Four arrested for vandalizing 'Back the Blue' mural in Tampa, police say
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TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa police arrested four suspects -- three adults and one juvenile -- for spray-painting profanity and drawing pigs on the 'Back the Blue' mural in the downtown area.
Police identified the adults as 19-year-old Emily Ann Gabaree, 18-year-old Alexander Thomas Drummond and 18-year-old Seth Michael Raigoza. Officials said they had no ties to Hillsborough County.
According to jail records, the three adults have Pasco County addresses: Gabaree from Land O' Lakes, Drummond from Zephyrhills and Raigoza from Wesley Chapel.
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Just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, officers said they noticed the four suspects defacing the mural, located outside the police department's headquarters.
The younger suspect was given a notice to appear and released to their parents, while the three adult suspects were taken to jail.
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It's not the first time the 'Back the Blue' mural was vandalized. Just a few days after it was painted in early August, police said it was defaced by two separate people. The mural was splattered with red paint and tar.
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Officials have not arrested those individuals.
Police said it appears to have happened around 10 p.m. on August 4. Cameras caught a subject, wearing all black clothing and a black mask, getting out of the hatchback of a black vehicle. The subject poured what officials believe is tar on parts of the mural.
The vehicle was seen on camera circling the area of TPD headquarters beforehand.
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Later, just after midnight, a second subject spray-painted an obscenity and "BLM" in red on a mesh, roll-up utility door on the north side of TPD's building. The person also poured red paint on the mural.
The mural was painted by a group of 40 people to help improve police morale, they said. Although it was completed, the permit to paint the mural wasn't approved by the city yet.