Graffiti Splashed Throughout City

From the east side to the west, Santa Barbara was hit by a rash of graffiti over the past weekend. One large tag near the Santa Barbara Courthouse dropped the F-bomb on city cops. While much of the graffiti was clearly gang related, police spokesperson Lt. Paul McCaffery cautioned that much was the handiwork of tagging crews unaffiliated with any specific gang. He said police do not know who did the spray-painting, and declined to speculate whether the sudden outpouring was motivated by the gang murder trial now underway, the I Madonnari chalk festival, or the imminent end of the school year—sometimes the occasion for an increase in gang-related activity—or none of the above.