SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran says three people face charges after a mural in town was vandalized with a slur. The mural honors hometown Olympian and WNBA player, Allisha Gray.
13WMAZ’s Jessica Cha spoke with the mayor and some people in town about their reactions.
"There's children who admire her, who look up to her, and someone was just this ignorant. It's heartbreaking,” Deona Ivey says.
Ivey is a Sandersville business owner. She says she watched the mural of Allisha Gray being painted.
"I was honored to be in the presence of the artist and to actually sit here and watch them-- from scratch-- bring it to life. It was just an honor,” Ivey says.
Allisha Gray is a graduate of Washington County High School. Now she's an Olympic gold medalist and plays in the WNBA.
"She's gone above and beyond and she's so young, and she's just starting to blossom,” she says.
Ivey says when she learned that someone vandalized Gray's mural with a racial slur, it told her that racism is alive and well in Washington County.
"It's heartbreaking that in 2022, people feel that way. That they could disrespect the mural, that they can disrespect her, her family, the community. They should be held accountable for what they did, they should be charged with a hate crime, vandalism and whatever other charges need to be brought forth for what they did,” Ivey says.
She says she respects the Gray family and a lot of them still live in town. She says it's sad they have to see that.
"Sheriff Joel Cochran says that the slur was written just above the word medalist. A very faint "X" is crossed through the word.
"Whoever did this, I hope they're caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” says Mayor James Andrews.
He says the city was honored to create this mural for Gray and says it’s, "Inexcusable to me, whether it be a local person who did it, or somebody from out of town. I don't know, but it's just very, very inexcusable for someone to do something so low like that,” Andrews says.
According to Sheriff Cochran, the three people are also accused of writing slurs on some nearby signs. He says they identified the three suspects using security footage from cameras nearby. So far, their names have not been released.