Investigation launched to find Viking vandals
SAMOHI It seems Vikings liked to light up a doobie during their downtime between their raids.
School officials at Santa Monica High School received an unpleasant surprise Tuesday morning when they discovered that a large mural depicting the school’s mascot on a building adjacent to the track and football fields was vandalized.
Among the suspects are students, specifically, members of the Class of 2007.
The vandalism consisted of a marijuana joint superimposed onto the mouth of the Viking head, and the numerals “07” painted over the “Vi” in the slogan “Home of the Vikings,” rendering it “Home of the 07 Kings.”
A school resource officer with the Santa Monica Police Department was on the field Tuesday morning to conduct an investigation. As of Tuesday evening, there was no additional information regarding the responsible party.
Whether or not police will file felony or misdemeanor charges depends on the extent of the damage. Based on the amount of vandalism to the mural, which was painted in the summer of 2005, authorities would pursue misdemeanor charges, said Lt. Alex Padilla of SMPD.
It took artist David Legaspi, who has painted murals at all of the schools within the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, almost two months to complete the project. The Viking head took about three weeks to complete, and the lettering demanded another month of Legaspi’s time. More than 40 gallons of paint, donated by Naylor Paint owner Larry Naylor, were used in the project.
“It was probably the biggest wall I’ve ever tackled,” Legaspi said.
Legaspi seemed unfazed at news that someone had tampered with his mural.
“It’s upsetting in a way because somebody worked on the mural,” he said on Tuesday.“The one thing that is consoling for me is the fact that it was not serious.”
In fact, Legaspi had heard from the district’s maintenance crew that the paint would come off without too much of a struggle.
“Even if it was serious tagging, I would’ve just gone back and fixed it,” he said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 31, 2007. Read the original PDF.