"If the community was offended, I apologize. I assure you I never would have allowed that," Whitmoyer said. "I think they were well-meaning, they put their heart and soul into their work, but chose poor imagery that can be interpreted badly."

Whitmoyer referred questions about the subcontractor to Dick Anderson Construction owner Dick Anderson, who denounced the image and identified Gruber Masonry of Clancy as the subcontractor that created it.

Dave Gruber, president of Gruber Masonry, visited the Independent Record Wednesday afternoon to issue an apology.

"I apologize to the public," Gruber said. "This was not intended the way some are taking it."

Gruber said the image was never meant to be permanent. He said the outside would have been covered by siding and the inside would have been painted.

Gruber said he and his crew had leftover black blocks and decided to use them to create a "cool" reference to the school's mascot, the Vigilantes.

"It was in no way, no how brought up to Dick Anderson Construction that we were doing this," Gruber said.

Gruber said the nationwide school-shooting problem did not cross his mind before the image was created, and his crew received some positive comments about the design before it was painted over.

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