Message about veteran suicides spray-painted on Louisville billboard

If you are having thoughts of suicide, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255.

A message drawing attention to veteran suicides was spray-painted on a U.S. Marines billboard over the weekend in downtown Louisville.

The billboard, located at Second and Chestnut streets, advertises for the U.S. Marine Corps with the message, "Battles Are Won Within." It was spray-painted in red with "22 VET SUICIDES EVERY DAY."

In 2014, a Veteran's Affairs study determined that an average of 20 veterans died by suicide each day.

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Louisville Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said he was unaware of the graffiti. Gunnery Sgt. Justin Kronenberg with the Marine Corps public affairs said he was made aware of the graffiti over the weekend.

A message left for Outfront Media, the billboard company, was not immediately returned.

The graffiti comes at a time where mental health has been brought back into the national consciousness with the deaths by suicide of fashion icon Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain last week.

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A study released that same week from the Centers for Disease Control showed that suicide is increasing across the nation.

The federal report shows suicide rates have risen by more than 30 percent since 1999 in half of all states, including Kentucky, and that more than half of the 45,000 people who died by suicide in 2016 had no mental health condition.

“This is one of the first findings in the United States showing that there are suicide deaths, a large portion of which are not due necessarily to mental illness," said Dr. April Foreman, an executive board member of the American Association of Suicidology.

More: There's help. Here are some suicide prevention resources in Louisville

The graffiti is the latest in a series of politically charged messages left on billboards around Louisville.

In April, two Louisville billboards were vandalized and left with the tag "Resist 45," a group that is against the Presidency of Donald J. Trump.

A sign for the U.S. Marines with the motto "MARINES FIGHT TO WIN" was vandalized in all capital letters with, "FOR THE RICH." On the back of the billboard, an advertisement for a weekend's Concealed Carry Expo included the message, "BLACKS AND BROWNS WELCOME."

Earlier this year, an all-caps message — "KILL THE NRA" — appeared on a blank billboard following the Florida school shooting in which 17 people died. The graffiti prompted a response from the National Rifle Association.

Another billboard, a beer advertisement, was painted over to read, "Grab life by the pussy," an apparent reference to Trump's comments in the infamous 2005 Access Hollywood recording where, talking about women, he told host Billy Bush he would "grab them by the pussy."

Reporter Darcy Costello contributed to this article. Thomas Novelly can be reached at 502-582-4465 or by email at tnovelly@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/tomn.