Downtown Olympia businesses hit with anti-police graffiti Sunday night

About 30 people walked through downtown Olympia Sunday night and wrote anti-police messages on multiple buildings and structures, including City Hall, Olympia Police reported.

Lt. Paul Lower said the group went down Fourth Avenue late at night, painting “kill cops kind of messages” on storefronts, bus stops and buildings throughout the area. Some of the messages showed support for Milwaukee, where turmoil broke out after Saturday’s shooting death of an armed African-American man by a black police officer.

The group scattered when Olympia Police responded to the scene at 11 p.m. No arrests were made.

Lower said they are trying to figure out who the people were. Olympia police collected video footage from local businesses, but Lower said the participants were wearing dark clothing and items to disguise their identities.

“It’s part of being in an active city,” said Raven Fire, an employee of Dumpster Values, one of the Fourth Avenue businesses that was tagged. “People shouldn’t hurt local businesses, though. It doesn’t help anything to hurt a local business.”

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Downtown Olympia businesses hit with anti-police graffiti Sunday night."