Oakland community shocked after artist shot dead while painting peace mural

A young artist has been shot dead in a rough part of Oakland. He was working on a community project painting a motivational mural to inspire young people to dream big.

Fellow artists have described the shooting as random, saying Antonio Ramos, 27, had had an argument with a passerby who wasn’t part of the group working on the Mural Project. The argument quickly escalated, and the offender used his gun on Ramos and ran away.

© Oakland Superheroes Mural Project © Facebook

“How do you do something positive and still get shot for it?” a childhood friend of Ramos told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Many took to Twitter to express their sorrow and a profound feeling of injustice.

Ramos died of multiple gunshot wounds and now the team he worked with is gathering funds to hold a funeral for him.

The Oakland Super Heroes Mural Project, that Ramos was part of, was a collaboration of 60 artists and West Oakland middle-school students. It was organized by community group Attitudinal Healing Connection. It’s a follow up to a 2014 project, when West Oakland Middle School students re-imagined themselves as superheroes that solve problems in their communities. 

Attitudinal Healing Connection's Facebook page is reaching out to the community to get involved and boost security to help the artists feel safer when they resume work on the unfinished mural.

One Twitter user wrote that hundreds of people showed up at the Mural to pay their respects. 

People are bringing candles, flowers, writing inspirational quotes and messages to Antonio Ramos to thank him for what he was doing for the community with this project. 

David Burke, the mural project's art director says the artists will carry on with their work. “We are going to dedicate the rest of this project to him," he told CBS San Francisco. 

Although everyone close to Ramos is still in shock, those working on the project, plan to resume painting on Monday. 

The police have issued a $10,000 reward for any information that could lead to the arrest of Ramos’s killer.