Castro Floral Shop Defiled With Horrible Anti-Gay Graffiti
Suspect allegedly punched a neighbor before fleeing in a white SUV bearing a message honoring Charlie Kirk.
San Francisco police are investigating after a suspect vandalized a floral design shop with homophobic graffiti before fleeing in an SUV bearing a pro-Charlie Kirk message on the back windshield.
Jeff Dumlao, co-owner of the floral design studio Chartreuse by Roje in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, said he and his partner, Roberto Cancel, had just closed for the day on May 16 when they were alerted to the graffiti.
“We were going to support one of our friends at an art show down the street, and on the way, we get a text from one of our clients saying, ‘I know you just closed, but you might want to come back because there’s some unpleasant graffiti on the wall outside your store and some sort of disturbance happening,'” Dumlao told SFist.
Dumlao and Cancel walked back to the shop and found multiple San Francisco police officers on the scene. They learned their upstairs neighbor had been assaulted by the suspect, who fled in a white SUV, and saw graffiti outside the store’s front door reading: “Faggots = gas chambers.”
“What bothered us the most was really the exact words,” Dumlao said.
NBC affiliate KNTV reported that the upstairs neighbor, identified only as Justin, saw the suspect exit his SUV and heard him begin spray-painting the wall.
“I heard the very distinctive sound of a spray paint can shaking,” Justin said.
Justin told KNTV that he went downstairs and confronted the vandal, telling him, “Excuse me, sir. This is my home. You can’t be vandalizing. It’s illegal. I’d like you to leave now.'”
The suspect then punched Justin in the face, got into his SUV, and drove off, striking a parked car before fleeing down 14th Street, according to witnesses. Justin managed to photograph the suspect’s vehicle and license plate. The SUV’s rear window featured a painted cross and the message: “Onward Christian Soldiers. Charlie Kirk Rest in Power,” referring to the deceased right-wing activist known for anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and support for Christian nationalism.
SFist reported that San Francisco police have been working with the assaulted neighbor and hope to make an arrest in the ongoing investigation after Justin photographed the vehicle’s license plate. Police reportedly believe the graffiti was an isolated incident and not part of a broader pattern of similar crimes.
After police documented the scene, Dumlao and Cancel found a can of paint in their shop and covered the graffiti.
“Our first instinct was just to cover that up,” Dumlao told SFist. “We don’t want to give them any more ammunition, and let that message stay there or let them think they can get away with that — especially in the Castro of all places.”
Dumlao said they hope to work with their landlord and a local artist to replace the graffiti with a mural depicting a bouquet of flowers, adding: “I want to commemorate this with an image of beauty and of love.”
Nate Bourg, president of the Castro Merchants Association, said he was “deeply saddened” by the graffiti and what it says about “the hateful divisions still present in our society.”
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