Kamloops RCMP have decided to go public in their bid to find a pair of suspected “taggers” who damaged a recently-commissioned effort to beautify the downtown core.

A pair of surveillance photos have been put out by the local detachment in the hope someone will recognize and help the RCMP locate the pair, who allegedly did significant damage to a mural the Fawcett family had commissioned.

“On June 14, 2026, police received a report of graffiti that had been spray painted on a mural located on the exterior wall of a building in the 200-block of 4th Avenue,” stated the RCMP in a release put out on Sunday.

The location of the mural is where the Fawcett family — owners of The Kelson Group — have maintained a building for a number of years downtown, not far from the company’s massive City Gardens project, and equally as close to the new site of the Kamloops Centre for the Arts, which is also being developed through a multi-million dollar donation from the Fawcett family.

Kelson Group Vice-President Kelly Fawcett notes the mural had only been completed a couple of weeks before the ‘taggers’ came along and defaced the work, which is a mural depicting a raven in the foreground and the former Red Bridge — itself a suspected casualty of criminal activity — in the background.

“We’ve owned that building for a long time, and we wanted to beautify the back alley and contribute to all the murals in town,” said Fawcett in conversation with Radio NL. “A while back we put out a proposal and we had a bunch of options come in and we chose a beautiful one. Vaughn Warren and Paul Archer are their names — the artists.”

On top of directly impacting the work of the artists, a later release put out by the Kelson Group contends the ‘taggers’ also impacted something that members of the broader community had begun enjoying and celebrating.

“It’s been great watching people admire the mural,” stated Fawcett in a release. “We have seen people in the alleyway taking photos of the artwork as well as selfies with the artwork and sharing those images with their friends.”

Fawcett says they were concerned the vandalism may have ultimately ruined the artwork they had commissioned.

“To be honest, we started to try to clean it up ourselves,” Fawcett told Radio NL. “I had actually reached out to the artist right away when I had found out about it. We worked with him to maybe try to clean it, but we actually had a lot of troubles with it.”

Fawcett credits crews connected to the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association for saving the mural.

“Even though we had a protective coating on there, we had a lot of troubles getting it [spray paint] off,” said Fawcett. “It wasn’t until the BIA and their Clean Team came along… we started working with them on it, and absolutely, they had a lot of different options or solutions.”

RCMP estimate the damage done by the ‘taggers’ to the mural in the range of between $1,500 and $2,000.

“Investigators are asking anyone who recognizes either individual, or who may have information related to this incident to contact police,” said Staff Sergeant Andy Lot of the Kamloops RCMP.

Mounties says ‘tagging’ itself likely took place sometime during the overnight hours from Thursday, June 12th to the following flip over into the next day, Friday.

“Public art helps create a sense of place and contributes to a vibrant downtown experience,” stated Jeremy Heighton, interim Executive Director of the Downtown Kamloops Business Improvement Association when it comes to graffiti.

“When incidents like this occur, our Clean Team is proud to work alongside property owners and businesses to help restore these spaces as quickly as possible.”