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NBA
star LeBron James' L.A. home vandalized with racial slur
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 [June 01, 2017]
By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Basketball
superstar LeBron James' Los Angeles home was vandalized with a
racial slur, police said on Wednesday, a day before the Cleveland
Cavaliers player was set to take the court in the first game of the
NBA finals.
The graffiti was spray-painted on the front gate of James' house.
Investigators are looking for any possible suspect involved, Los
Angeles police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said.
Eisenman declined to specify the racial slur used. It was reported
to police shortly after dawn on Wednesday and has since been painted
over, she said.
"No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no
matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough,"
James, a three-time NBA champion, told reporters when asked about
the incident at a news conference in Oakland, California, where he
is preparing for the NBA Finals.
"And we've got a long way to go for us as a society and for us as
African-Americans until we feel equal in America," he added.
James was not at his west Los Angeles residence at the time of the
vandalism, Eisenman said by phone.
James, 32, is the National Basketball Association's most prolific
playoff scorer and has been named the league's Most Valuable Player
four times. The Cavaliers are scheduled to face off on Thursday
against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.
Mary Kay Wulf, who lives a couple houses away from James, told a
group of reporters that she was appalled by the vandalism.
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The Brentwood home of NBA player LeBron James is seen in Los
Angeles, California, U.S., May 31, 2017. REUTERS/Alan Devall
"I hope that they find the people who have done it and they label it
for what it was - a hate crime - and punish them," Wulf said.
Police are investigating the graffiti as an act of vandalism and
have not determined whether to treat it as a hate crime, another Los
Angeles police spokeswoman, Irma Mota, said by phone.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Alan Devall in Los Angeles;
Editing by Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler) [© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All
rights reserved.]
Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights
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