Less than two weeks after it first appeared in downtown Phoenix, a billboard bearing President Donald Trump's likeness has been vandalized.
"The people who put the billboard up spent time, energy and money putting it up and it's their property," said Susan Nichols, who owns a shop directly across the street from the billboard. "The people who paintballed it, it's not their property, the have a right to express their opinion, but they have to do it through the proper channels and destroying someone's property is not the right channel."
On Wednesday, paint splatters appeared on the display, mostly covering the swastika-like dollar signs. At least one paint spot could be seen near the Russian flag pin on Trump's suit. It's unclear when the incident occurred and Phoenix police says they have not been contacted.
The billboard, located on Grand Avenue, features a menacing Donald Trump flanked by mushroom clouds and swastika-like dollar signs.
Earlier in the month, the artist commissioned to design the billboard said she was "just trying to express what I think is on a lot of people's minds these days."
The billboard art was commissioned by the billboard owner, Beatrice Moore, a longtime patron of the arts on Grand Avenue. 12 News reached out to Moore for comment, but she declined.
"Some of these issues are so important you can't not speak out," Moore said in an earlier interview with 12 News.
The Trump billboard went up March 17 at 11th Avenue and Grand, and Moore said it would remain up as long as Trump is president.
Moore and artist Karen Fiorito, who resides in California, expected blowback from Trump supporters, and Fiorito said she received death threats over the billboard.