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Florida law enforcement officials are seeking who is responsible for vandalizing a historic cemetery that has ties to the black community.
Seventeen graves were vandalized at the Old Memphis Cemetery in Palmetto, according to the Manatee County Sheriff's office.
'It's evil, messing with death. ... This is crazy and heartbreaking.'
Concrete was broken at some graves and others were spray-painted with red paint at the 122-year-old burial grounds.
"I'm outraged and furious," said Manatee County NAACP president Tracey Washington. "I'm very disturbed."
One concrete grave was completely cracked open and collapsed inward. Investigators said the vandalism was done in the past few weeks, and they're seeking help from the public in their investigation.
Washington said that many of her relatives are buried at the cemetery.
"I have my brother, grandfather, and grandmother here," she added.
Bizarrely, one of the messages spray-painted on a grave read, "Trump," and another read, "Ron DeSantis."
"It's evil, messing with death," said Xtavia Bailey, who also has relatives buried at the cemetery. "These people aren't bothering anybody. This is crazy and heartbreaking."
"We need to find out who did this and get to the bottom of this," Washington added. "This is totally unacceptable."
Officials announced a community cleanup event that included the offer from a Palmetto cement company to create new vault lids and install them at no charge.
"This place has a lot of history, and it should be protected just like any other history we've got," said Christopher Mullinex, who volunteered to donate concrete work to the effort.
Palmetto is a town of about 13K residents in central Florida.
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