Vandals Spray Paint Lakewood Women's Clothing Store

LAKEWOOD, OH — The Mission Boutique, which carries vintage womenswear and adult costumes, was vandalized between Monday night and early Tuesday morning. The store had sexist comments towards spray painted on its facade and on its back doors, including a message for repentance. Images from the facade are at the bottom of this article. The vandalism is graphic.

Mission's owner Martin Lansky told Patch this is the second time in about four months that his store has been vandalized in this way. Previously, someone took a marker to the store and wrote similarly graphic sexist language on the store's facade. This time, the vandal graduated to spray paint.

While the motive behind the vandalism is unclear, the timing is conspicuous. Yesterday saw women across the nation and the world take to social media to post “me too” to spread awareness of sexual harassment and sexual assault. (To stay up to date on these stories, subscribe to the Patch Lakewood newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

Lansky said his store's surveillance camera captured footage of the woman suspect. He believes it is the same person that tagged his store four months ago. He said he hopes this will lead to an arrest.

There has also been an outpouring of love for Mission Boutique from the community.

"Thank you for the support," Lansky said to the community. "One of the girls from Body Revolution came down and helped get the grafitti off. Shewmin Williams gave us some paint and some grafitti remover. By the time I got here, there was a crew of four to six people taking the paint off from the city."

This spray painting vandalism is the second major incident in the past three months to hit Lakewood. In mid-August, three swastikas were spray painted in driveways and on the street on Belle Avenue.

Warning: Graphic images below

Photos from Rick Uldricks Patch