During the last week of February vandals scrawled racist and vulgar graffiti at sites on the Piedmont High School campus, at Piedmont Middle School, as well as at Wildwood and Beach Elementary schools.
According to Piedmont Police Capt. Chris Monahan, the spray-painted graffiti depicted anatomical images and slurs aimed at gays and African-Americans. No arrests have been made.
The first graffiti to be discovered appeared on the exterior of the PHS gymnasium door, which had been marked with purple spray paint. Next, at Witter Field, the interior of the male restroom and a team bench on the football field had also been tagged.
Using the same purple spray paint, vandals also struck the baseball field — marking the backstop, back pad and bullpen. The back pad, bullpen, main building at Witter Field and a brick retaining wall were all marked with anatomical images. Vandals also left the letters “SKR.” Police say they do not know the significance of the three letters.
At Piedmont Middle School, the gymnasium back door and a wall were sprayed with purple paint, as was a storage room at Wildwood Elementary. Two days later graffiti appeared at multiple sites at Beach Elementary, including the playground.
All of the graffiti was immediately removed by workers for the city and PUSD. Piedmont Parks and projects manager Nancy Kent said there were no third party costs and the city’s removal costs of the graffiti on the Schoolmates building were minimal. According to police captain Monahan, costs of the damages to school property have not yet been estimated.
In email to the Piedmont Exedra, captain Monahan said; “We are not at a hate crime status on these events. There is no targeted victim we know about, beyond the school and city buildings.”
PPD is continuing its investigation.