SAN FRANCISCO—A man was caught on surveillance video defacing murals in Jack Kerouac Alley in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Saturday, May 8. The murals were created and donated by artist “MaCannaYo” and her partner in celebration of Asian cultures and has been defaced twice within a month’s time span. The suspect in the security footage is believed to be the same person in both incidents.
In the footage, the bearded man can be seen wearing a captain’s hat as he walks through the alley and begins to write on the murals with a sharpie. On April 12, a similar looking man with a beard can be seen in surveillance footage walking into the alley and drawing on the mural of Bruce Lee and other figures with a sharpie.
The footage of both incidents have been turned over to police and they are currently investigating the incident with MaCannaYo who will be meeting with SFPD about the identity of the suspect. MaCannaYo told KTVU, “in April he tagged Cai Shen’s face, but he signed it with his name. He’s not a tagger, but an illustrator from San Diego.”
MaCannaYo has been using her own funds to restore the murals and clean up the sharpie markings, but has set up a GoFundMe in order to purchase the necessary supplies to fully restore the paintings and protect against further vandalism. As of this writing the campaign has raised $6,590 of its $1,300 goal.