JSO officers volunteer to remove KKK vandalism

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spent part of their day repainting a vandalized Northwest Jacksonville home.

The letters KKK were spray-painted all over the home's exterior in early July and remained there for anyone to see for 40 days.

The owner of the house, Audrey Parker, believes the vandalism wasn't a racial crime and blames a fellow African-American with whom she's had a long-running dispute.

Parker is battling breast cancer and told Action News Tuesday that she can't afford to paint over the vandalism, which is considered offensive by just about everyone driving down Ridge Boulevard.

"I can't do it. I can't pay anyone to do it," said Parker.

Officer Isaiah Fields heard her plea on the news.

With Parker's permission, he showed up at the house Wednesday morning with three fellow members of the Sheriff's Office to repaint the  house with buckets of paint donated by Lowe's Home Improvement.

"It feels great. Being a police officer, I want to help anyway, so this here is a more personal level of giving back to someone," said Fields.

His boss, Lt. Lakesha Burton, was willing to help too.

"When he called in the request for help, I said, 'How can I help?  How can we get the troops on board to help as well?'" said Burton.

The police investigation into who's responsible for the vandalism remains an open case.

WJAX