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El Mirage family finds racist spray paint covering their home, police investigating

Posted at 6:01 PM, May 27, 2017
and last updated 2019-04-12 20:19:51-04

Police are investigating after receiving reports about racist graffiti sprayed on an El Mirage home.

On Saturday morning, Tishonda White was woken up by her neighbor around 7 a.m. after discovering racial slurs written with black spray paint on the outside walls of her home near Cactus Road and 119th Avenue.

The n-word was plastered all over her garage and the side of her house. "Trump was her (sic)" was also written on her front door.

"I can't blame everything on Trump," White said. "But I do believe a lot of this has to do with what is going on right now."

Heartbroken by the recent incident, White said her family is hoping to move very soon.

"I think the worst of the words was 'Monkey go home,'" White said. "This is one of the most degrading words you can call an African American and telling me to go home — like, this is not my home? This is my home and they just defaced it."

White says this isn't the first time her home was targeted. Just recently vandals cut the power to her house. 

"I want whoever done this to know that what they did was wrong," White said. "I don't even actually want jail time. I think they need help."

A neighbor captured surveillance footage of two bicyclists seen around 4:30 a.m. It shows the pair in dark clothing wearing backpacks. It's the only lead that police have on the case.

The community came together on Saturday to help White remove the hateful words from the walls. One of her neighbors also donated some cash to White so that she can purchase her own security camera.

"That's our every day — to just paint," Tommie Johnson said. "But to run into something like this...this is different for me. I haven't seen anything like this in all my years."

Johnson and his son, Malik, heard about what happened and wanted to pitch in during the clean-up effort. 

White said people have been knocking on her door all day offering their support. 

Authorities say the incident is under investigation but they have no suspects in custody at this time. Anyone with information is urged to contact the El Mirage Police Department.