A new mural at the corner of 24th Street and South Van Ness Avenue dedicated to Sean Monterrosa, a 22-year-old Bernal Heights native killed by a Vallejo police officer in 2020, is set to be finished on Thursday, during Día de los Muertos.
“Whenever we have a crisis, this is what we artists do,” said Josué Rojas, who is leading the Monterrosa mural project. “It’s a part of healing.”
Monterrosa appears in the center of the mural, wearing his Ben Davis shirt and surrounded by scenes from his life: His early days working at the Latinx youth empowerment nonprofit Horizons Unlimited; his job as a construction worker; crowds of protesters for the Black Lives Matter movement in which he participated; and his last text message to his sisters Ashley and Michelle, asking them to sign a petition demanding justice for George Floyd. Finally, there are his sisters, holding a sign calling for justice for their brother.
Indeed, Monterossa had become more active in the Floyd protests in the weeks before his death, and he would join them in the weeks after, too: Rallies held in the Mission lifted up Monterossa’s face alongside those of other police-shooting victims in the neighborhood and across the country.
In the months after his July 12, 2020, shooting, his family joined others who had lost relatives to police to demand reform and legislative changes. They also filed a civil rights suit alleging wrongful death against the city of Vallejo, which initially fired the officer involved in the shooting before returning him to his position earlier this year.
On 24th Street, Monterrosa’s mural features his own drawing of Toucan Sam, his favorite cartoon character as a kid, wearing a cap and sneakers with a halo over its head. Monterrosa was nicknamed “Tucan,” the Spanish spelling, and his family have named July 12 “Tucan’s Day.”
The trio of Rojas, Anthony Jimenez, a local muralist, and Angel Velazquez, a 19-year-old mural apprentice, has been working on the mural since last Thursday. They started painting at around 11 a.m. Tuesday, playing music from a speaker while surrounded by cans of paint. Occasionally, pedestrians stopped to look at the unfinished mural and offer a few kind words of encouragement.
To the right of Monterossa was an as-yet-unfinished portion for the 22-year-old’s dog, Gucci, who the muralists said provided support for the family, but passed away on Oct. 12.
The trio’s work is also supported by Horizon Unlimited, Jelly Donut, Precita Eyes Muralists Association, Mission Economic Development Agency, which owns the building and, most important, the Monterrosa sisters.
The mural uses Mission blue, a particular shade of turquoise also used in the tiles outside the 16th Street and 24th Street Mission BART stations — a common symbol of the Mission, where Monteressa spent time.
Rojas is also using the Ollin pattern on the background of the mural, an Aztec symbol symbolizing one’s path in life.
“I’m just trying to come up with a new way to tell the story,” Rojas said. “A visual way to tell the story that’s interesting and beautiful.”
Angel Velazquez, a 19-year-old mural apprentice working on the unfinished mural. Photo by Xueer Lu. November 1, 2023. 
Color palette for painting the portion for Gucci, Sean Monterrosa’s dog. Photo by Xueer Lu. November 1, 2023. 
Anthony Jimenez, one of the muralists, mixing colors for the mural. Photo by Xueer Lu. November 1, 2023. 
The color palette. Photo by Xueer Lu. November 1, 2023.
The mural will be officially unveiled on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m.
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