Vandals spray-paint ‘BLM’ on Madison County Courthouse, other Edwardsville buildings
Edwardsville police are seeking information on the vandal or vandals who spray-painted “BLM” on more than half a dozen buildings and signs — including the historic Madison County Courthouse — late Thursday or early Friday.
No one was in custody, and no suspect or suspects had been identified as of late Friday morning, according to police Maj. Mike Fillback.
“Basically, we’ll see if we can piece together any witnesses or video that might assist us,” he said. “We would ask the public to contact the Edwardsville Police Department if they have any information on who may have done this. We would consider it criminal damage to state-supported property, which under Illinois statute, that is a felony.
“We will attempt to identify the subject or subjects responsible and hold them accountable in a court of law,” Fillback added.
The vandal or vandals also reportedly spray-painted “BLM” on the nearby Edwardsville Township building, the Edwardsville City Park grandstand, the Walgreens store, a dentist office, a law office and other buildings along St. Louis Street.
BLM has been most often used recently as an acronym for Black Lives Matter, a national movement to end systemic racism.
Cynthia Ellis, public relations director for Madison County, was upbeat late Friday morning because employees had been able to remove most of the courthouse graffiti. The vandal or vandals had used black spray paint to write “BLM” in several places on the building’s St. Louis Street and Main Street sides.
“Our facilities director, he actually called the company that had done the work on the courthouse, and they were able to get some remover (that cost about $80), and within three hours, they had it off,” Ellis said.
The “work” to which Ellis was referring was a $1.4 million renovation that the county completed about five years ago. It had involved cleaning, tuck-pointing and weather-proofing the massive, mostly marble courthouse, which opened in 1915.
The graffiti also was gone from the Edwardsville City Park bandstand by late Friday morning. It had been covered by a fresh coat of white paint.
Edwardsville police were alerted to the courthouse vandalism about 4:30 a.m. Friday and arrived at the scene almost immediately but saw no sign of those responsible, Fillback said. Since that time, they’ve been talking to nearby business owners and otherwise investigating.
“There are ways to express yourself in a responsible manner,” Fillback said. “And spray-painting anybody’s property, whether it’s government property or a private citizen’s property, to express yourself is not appropriate. Regardless of how you feel, it’s costing taxpayer money and costing time that people could be using on something else.”
The vandalism was a hot topic at the courthouse and adjacent Madison County administration building on Friday morning. Ellis said there are multiple security cameras on the property, and she was told that at least one mask-wearing vandal was caught on video.
Black Lives Matter activists have held several peaceful protests outside the courthouse since May 25, when the movement was reignited by the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer who held a knee on his neck for nearly 9 minutes.
This summer, vandals spray-painted “BLM” in about a dozen places on pavement of the Watershed Trail, a pedestrian and bicycle trail that runs along Watershed Nature Center in Edwardsville. The trail is the property of Madison County Transit, which repaired the damage by paving over the graffiti.
Edwardsville Police Department can be reached at 618-656-2131.
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
