TOLEDO, Ohio — A memorial to George Floyd is now a pile of bricks.
The mural that was created in Toledo, Ohio, was destroyed Tuesday, WTOL reported.
It was painted by David Ross about a year ago as a memorial to Floyd, who was killed by a former Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin. Chauvin was sentenced last month for Floyd’s murder.
A witness told Toledo Fire Department officials they saw the lightning hit the mural, and the department later confirmed that it was the cause of the installation’s destruction.
However, not all agree that the mural came down because of lightning.
The Toledo Blade reported that the city inspector said the wall’s age was the reason it fell.
Toledo’s George Floyd mural at Summit and Lagrange collapsed today. A city building inspector says it was “just age. It just came away.” They had noticed it bowing recently. pic.twitter.com/pXcFqfznFc
— Kaitlin Durbin (@njKaitlinDurbin) July 13, 2021
Inspector Hugh Koogan told the Blade the collapse was due to natural deterioration and that the wall was recently seen bowing in the middle. Koogan told the newspaper he spoke to the witness and found no signs that lightning was the cause.
Ross also doesn’t fully believe that weather was to blame for the collapse. He said he was threatened and criticized when he painted Floyd’s image and wondered if someone vandalized his art.
“When I did the mural, there was stuff on the wall that I couldn’t remove, and that let me know how strong that structure was,” Ross told the Blade. “The lightning thing, that’s possible, but I know it didn’t just fall.”
Ross has vowed to repaint the mural in a new location.
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