SAN ANTONIO — Customers who come to the 7-Eleven at 802 San Pedro Ave. can’t miss the giant murals of three rappers across the parking lot. Cardi B, Nipsey Hussle and Whiz Khalifa watch over the area—large, colorful, life-like.
Colton Valentine spray-painted the murals on the wall near the convenience store. The former tagger started taking his art seriously two years ago at his grandmother’s urging.
“'Yo, stop wasting your talent,'" he recalled her saying.
That challenge propelled him from a tagger taking unlawful and unnecessary risks to an artist who murals can be found all over social media.
Valentine’s art is evolving.
“This one is important,” he said. “Something’s been telling me like, 'Yo, make sure you do this one.'"
The 27-year-old was inspired by video he saw of an Eyewitness News exclusive report on the shooting death of Charles ‘Chop’ Roundtree.
According to San Antonio police, the 18-year-old was the unintentional casualty of an officer involved shooting. Police said officer Steve Casanova went to 217 Roberts St. to investigate an assault claim.
Body camera video shows the officer shooting Davante Snowden through the door of the house. The video shows Snowden sitting on the couch when the officer knocked on the door. As it opened, Casanova asked “What’s up?”
On the video Snowden reacts to officer. Casanova said the weapon suspect had a gun. So, he opened fire twice. According to investigators, the gunfire struck Snowden’s backside, exited and hit Roundtree in the chest.
The father of one was killed.
Valentine has definite opinions after watching the video. He’s expressing it in a mural of Roundtree with messages like "Still I rise" and "Justice for Chop."
“I was trying to, at least, bring some justice to this situation,” he said.
Valentine’s desire to push for Casanova to be assigned criminal responsibility for the deadly shooting earned him blessings from Roundtree’s family, who watched as the mural started to take shape on Wednesday.
Bernice Roundtree, Roundtree’s aunt and adoptive mother, looked on with a smile. She said recent days have been tough.
“We just put the tombstone on his (Roundtree’s) grave,” She said.
Valentine expects the mural to be done on Friday. He had hoped to be done sooner, but people interested in the new mural and fans of his existing work frequently slow down his work. He stops to talk about the shooting to them.
The artist is achieving his goal for the project is clear: He said he wants people to take a deeper look into the shooting.
“Imagine being this family and, like, case closed. Nothing happens from it,” he said. “Just because it was a police officer. Like everyone has to be held accountable.”
Casanova is on administrative duty until the Bexar County District Attorney decides if the shooting was justified.
Roundtree's family plans to protest in front of the Bexar County District Attorney's Office on Friday afternoon.