Someone vandalized the mural of the late Rep. John Lewis. Now, police are working to figure out who would do such a thing.

Business owners told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes that they were furious when they saw how someone disrespected the mural.

“Who would even think of doing such a thing?” said Jerome Edmondson, who owns the parking lot in front of the building at Jesse Hill Drive and Auburn Avenue where the mural of John Lewis was painted a decade ago.

He noticed this vandalism on Monday.

“We have a lot of movie shoots on our property. the movie shutdown and then we came back later that evening and I said, ‘Oh my God, someone has defaced the congressman John Lewis’s mural.’ I’ve been here for several years, no one would dare deface that mural,” Edmondson said.

Several business owners in the area believe someone did this because its Black History Month.

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They believe that because just around the corner, it looks like the same suspects vandalized a painting of the Gold Dust Twins, two Black girls that became a nationally recognized trademark for a cleaning product.

Edmondson has a good idea of who is responsible.

“We have a picture of four young white kids on skateboards that had been pointed out. I happened to take pictures of them. They ran when I approached them, with paint cans in their pocket,” Edmondson said.

We’re not showing the picture unless Atlanta police name them as suspects.

“Any given day, you got 30-50 people on this lot taking pictures. It was a hit your brakes stop and say, ‘Wait a minute, someone defaced the most important mural that I think is in this country.’ That’s unheard of,” Edmondson said.

While police are looking into the incident, they’re also looking for help.

If you know anything about who did the damage, police are asking that you call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.

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