A 74-year-old Ocala man has been arrested after confessing to spray-painting “KKK” and a noose on the side of another business owner’s vehicle.
Ocala Police Department arrested 74-year-old Victor Buttermore, who owns Signs Unlimited Sea, Inc., on Friday, June 25, after video surveillance of the incident went viral.
According to OPD, Buttermore says that he spray painted the van because he was upset with Screaming Aero Graphix for stealing an employee and job.
The van owner, Aniyah Williams, runs her business Fancyhairco out of Gainesville, and brought the vehicle to Ocala to have it worked on. The van, which has prominently displayed photos of black women, was spray painted while it was stationed in front of the Screaming Aero Graphix, which is located at 15 SW 10th Street.
The letters “KKK” are scrawled in red spray paint across the side of the van. What appears to be a noose is spray painted around the head of one of the women.
Williams took to social media to share surveillance photos earlier this month and made an impassioned plea about racism and hate.
“If for one second you don’t believe there’s no longer such a thing as ‘racism’…our Fancyhairco mobile truck didn’t even make it out of the shop without being vandalized by a Caucasian male,” reads a Facebook post. “The nerve to spray paint KKK & ropes around our necks. This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Buttermore faces a felony criminal mischief charge for causing approximately $1,250 of damage to the vehicle.