The Asheville Police Department is seeking tips in connection with a spate of graffiti incidents that happened on March 7 in locations along Tunnel Road, most prominently the abandoned site of the Lone Star Steakhouse.
A release from the APD also listed nine other locations that were graffiti targets in the incidents.
“Numerous businesses were painted by vandals, with the hardest hit being at 5 Tunnel Road, formerly the Lone Star restaurant,” the release reads. “Property owners have since cleaned up and repainted the building.”
It adds that the APD’s “efforts to abate graffiti vandalism include conducting more than 50 surveillance operations and logging more than 500 hours of investigative time into arresting individual vandals, who collectively cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage yearly,” and that these incidents were not thought to be gang-related.
“The majority of local vandalism is committed by individuals who have no gang affiliation, and that is also believed to be the case in these recent instances,” the release says.
The APD is asking anyone with information about the incidents to call the police at 252-1110 or 255-5050.
The full release is below. Click here to see a photo gallery of the vandalism.
— David Forbes, staff writer
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ASHEVILLE – Asheville police are seeking the public’s help in identifying the person(s) responsible for a spate of graffiti vandalism that occurred along the Tunnel Road corridor sometime on the evening of March 7.
Numerous businesses were painted by vandals, with the hardest hit being at 5 Tunnel Road, formerly the Lone Star restaurant. Property owners have since cleaned up and repainted the building.
Other locations that were vandalized include:
155 Tunnel Road
165 Tunnel Road
60 Tunnel Road
4 S. Tunnel Road
115 Tunnel Road
38 Tunnel Road
85 Tunnel Road
117 Tunnel Road
64 Tunnel Road
Graffiti vandalism fosters a sense of disrespect for private property and can adversely affect property values, business opportunities and general quality of life.
The APD’s efforts to abate graffiti vandalism include conducting more than 50 surveillance operations and logging more than 500 hours of investigative time into arresting individual vandals, who collectively cause hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage yearly. The majority of local vandalism is committed by individuals who have no gang affiliation, and that is also believed to be the case in these recent instances.
Police urge anyone with information that could help in locating the person(s) responsible for Saturday’s incidents or any other cases of graffiti vandalism to call APD at (828) 252-1110 or CrimeStoppers at (828) 255-5050.
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“The APD’s efforts to abate graffiti vandalism include conducting more than 50 surveillance operations and logging more than 500 hours of investigative time into arresting individual vandals…”
That’s a lie perpetuated by the APD to try and justify extra man-hours for a project that relies on inside snitches for information. I’d love to see documentation of how those “500+ hours” were spent.
“The majority of local vandalism is committed by individuals who have no gang affiliation, and that is also believed to be the case in these recent instances,” the release says. ”
Let’s see how long it takes them to contradict this statement when they start claiming asheville has a “Gang Problem” again.
I work at APD and this is not a lie. Your comment is ugly and from my point of view, very unfair. A lot of frustrating hours go into working this type of crime, but we have still made a lot of arrests. Yet, we can spend 40 hours staking out a single area that keeps getting tagged and come away with nothing. You try it. It’s not a picnic, but it’s what we get paid to do. And we choose this career because we love it. Period.
And who says that there are no gangs?
We have a gang unit and it is legitimate. But that doesn’t mean that every single crime in this city can be blamed on gangs.
I hardly ever see any comments on this site that praise anything we do and maybe it’s a mistake for me to bother coming here. But not all APD is Republican, or straight or Christian, so sometimes I do. My bad.
It would be nice if you could see beyond your bias, because you clearly have several against my friends and co-workers. And you sound just plain…mean.
There is no mention of the rash of scribbles that was plastered down Haywood Rd. two weeks ago,
namely KYLE, EDI, ROLEPLAY, and FINGERLICKER crudely scrawled in black and white from one end to the other, overnight.
Though I was targeted by APD for “suspiciously” walking down Haywood one evening on my way home from work. I asked if it was related to the recent graffiti activity, and the officer said no, it is a new initiative to crack down on “suspicious people” walking around.
PK, do your civic duty and turn them in. You know the most about these guys. Save us all the tax dollars.
It is sad to see people with no respect for private property. If people did this to their property I doubt they would be so eager to keep doing it. If they are obviously tagging their art..then it is easy to find them. I do not understand why these artists are not using canvas instead of private property.
In one city they are doing this: “The proposed ordinance would require that spray paint be locked in a cabinet at every hardware store (or whoever else sells it these days) and would prohibit sales to anyone below the age of 18.” Extreme..but it takes extra effort to buy it. I’m sure that most of the Asheville graffiti is done by people over 18.
Open Minded Police, Unfortunately, you will not get much support here. The few of us that do support what you do are attacked like WE stole something. The ironic thing is if we did steal something, they would start defending instead of attacking us.
Watch what happens after my post.
I think I’ve backspaced 10 different statements. Time to start harsher penalities for those who are getting busted and send a message that the community will not tolerate this anymore.
I hope they get busted. Thanks, APD.
Unwanted graffiti is NOT cool in my opinion.
Open Minded Police – I’m pleasantly surprised by the supportive responses and lack of responses by those who defend the vandals. I had hoped that MX had a more diverse readership than is indicated by the comments sections.
Look at literally every city in our country, and you will understand that graffiti will never be stopped. Bust every writer and vandal in Asheville and more will emerge. Its just part of the city growing up. I know for a fact that there is a lot of terrible crimes in Asheville not being investigated, yet this much manpower and tax money goes toward an impossible battle. It is embarrasing really. Lack of graffiti will not help revive the tourism industry. Drop the binoculars and find out who broke into my house, put a gun in my roomates face and murdered his golden retriever. Phone calls were never returned, and these rednecks seek praise for their efforts. Grow up.
Word, Gus.
But graffiti is far easier to go after than actual criminals– people who are breaking into homes, or stealing cars, or selling drugs. Nope, they’d rather go after the college kids with markers and spray paint. Great Job APD!!
heres an idea…why doesn’t the city consider hiring them to practice their art on some of the “less-sightly” parts of town? Seems like a win-win to me
>>”But not all APD is Republican, or straight or Christian, “<< Gay APD? Really? I dont see what this has to do with the topic, but it is an interesting admission from a so-called "police". Are they "out" or in the closet?
“apd seeks tips” “ouch just the tip”
If you have information on any crime including graffiti in any NC area please report it to your local department, crimestoppers, or sneeksnitch.com .