MURRAY, Utah -- One person has been identified as a person of interest in a spray painting spree on East Winchester Street in Murray.
Over the past couple weeks, businesses, windows and signs have been tagged with graffiti between 900 East and State Street. Murray police say almost nothing has gone untouched.
"There was brick walls, there was concrete walls, there was electrical boxes of different ownership, there was windows," said Murray Police Spokesman Officer Kenny Bass. He also said apartments and fences got sprayed.
One of businesses hit was RC Willey, 861 E. 6600 South. On Feb. 8, the furniture store's operations manager Chad Wagstaff spotted tags all over the building as well as many other places when he came into work that day.
"On our windows, and some of the posts," he said. "Our back wall, our trucks, our trailers, our trash compactors, I mean it was-- we were covered up really well."
They spent the day trying to get rid of it.
"Lot of paint, lot of scrubbing," he explained.
Authorities say they don’t know why the graffiti is concentrated on Winchester Street.
Bass said he is "baffled as to why it happened there. And all of this is just kind of shocking, really."
"It seemed like there was nothing to stop them, no canvas left behind," Bass said. "They got everything they could."
Photos show cement barriers, road construction equipment and signs, even a van ended up with tags painted all over.
Now, police are looking at what the unwelcome words and pictures mean.
"It could be gang related, it can also be strictly tagger related, identifying a special moniker," Bass said.
Most of the graffiti is now washed away, or covered up with paint. But with all the money, time and effort that went into undoing the vandalism, Bass said, whoever is responsible would see charges-- and possibly felonies.
Murray Police stated on Facebook they identified a person of interest and believe there are several suspects still out there.
While police continue to investigate, Wagstaff said they are installing security cameras at RC Willey, and began leaving the parking lot lights on at night in hopes their building doesn't become a canvas again.
