S.F. police say five businesses hit at about 4 a.m. Monday
When employees of Seret and Sons, a downtown art dealer and rug shop, arrived at work Monday morning, they found black ink dripping from the eyes of two marble elephants that stand outside the business.
Each white elephants, which weighs more than a ton and was imported from India, is worth more than $20,000. Nearby, a truck owned by the business at Galisteo and West Alameda streets was sprayed-painted with the words, “I shoot cops.”
Employees say graffiti at the store is nothing new, but this incident stood out for two reasons: the vandals’ brazenness and the fact their crime was caught on videotape.
Luke Marshall, a graphic artist at Seret and Sons, said surveillance cameras that caught the vandals were installed in plain sight to deter graffiti, but the threat of getting caught seemed to have no effect on the two men seen causing the damage.
“It’s so frustrating,” Marshall said. “That’s why we got the cameras, but they don’t even pay attention to them.”
Santa Fe police say approximately five downtown businesses were tagged at about 4 a.m. Monday. A wall outside the Optical Shop of Aspen was painted, and two Buddhas outside Earthfire Gems Gallery also had their eyes blacked out.
“It happens pretty commonly on this street,” said Jed Hoffberg, a sales associate at the Optical Shop of Aspen. “You constantly see something new. If it were pretty, that would be one thing, but this is really not.”
“Hopefully, since they were caught on tape, we can figure out who these guys are,” said Deputy Police Chief Benjie Montaño. “Unfortunately, this is too common all over the city.”
Montaño said police receive several calls a week about graffiti. For business owners, graffiti can be costly. Although employees at Seret and Sons were able to wash off much of the black paint with graffiti remover, employees at Earthfire Gems on Galisteo said their stone Buddha statues might have to be sandblasted.
Contact Natalie Storey at 986-3026.
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