After initially painting over a mural in honor of a slain 21-year-old peace activist, a Washington Highlands market owner has paid to replace the artwork on the side of his store.

Woochan Hong, the owner of the Chesapeake Big Market, paid for a muralist to repaint the mural of Lorraine Marie Thomas, a 21-year-old violence interrupter who was shot and killed last month.

Activists say Hong had initially allowed an artist to paint the mural on Nov. 11, but removed it about a month later after an apparent misunderstanding about the amount of time it was allowed to stay up.

“We talked to the [business owner], and [he] gave us permission to put it up,” says Jovon Davis, founder of anti-violence clothing brand called Love More Brand and the person who commissioned the mural and paid $1,000 to the muralist, Ira Dell.

Hong, an immigrant from Korea who does not speak fluent English, became the store owner in 2013. DCist has been unable to reach Hong for an interview. City officials who have spoken with him say the conflict stemmed from a misunderstanding about the mural.

The owner understood that the mural would be up for two weeks, says Sara Park, community outreach specialist and interpreter with the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.

“I think they had a misunderstanding about how long the mural could stay up or would stay up. Because [Hong] didn’t own the building himself, he felt pressure to take down the mural because it wasn’t his building,” says Ben de Guzman, director of Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs.

Davis says he thinks the misunderstanding may have stemmed from a conversation in which they’d told Hong how long it would take to complete the mural (two days). Still, Davis says, “that doesn’t make sense. Why would we have it up for two weeks?”

The market is one block away from where Thomas was murdered. Thomas often shopped at Chesapeake Big Market, and her brother Darrin Thomas says the entire family has shopped there for 20 years because it’s one of the few stores to buy groceries in the area. It’s also a busy pathway for car and foot traffic, meaning the art would be more visible, says Davis.

Once a teen who was involved in the wrong crowds, Thomas turned things around and became a peace advocate with Love More Brand, The Alliance of Concerned Men, and Cure the Streets. Earlier this year, she helped facilitate a conversation between rivals and that led to a truce, according to the Washington Post. Washington Highlands had 11 shootings in the first five months of 2020, and following the resolution the community went months without gun violence.

On Oct. 30, Thomas was fatally shot while in a car in Washington Highlands. The mural was installed about two weeks after her death. Members of the community took pictures alongside it and posted on social media, says Davis.

Darrin Thomas says the mural was a safe space to remember her.

“By her picture being right there, it feels like she’s not gone. I know she’s gone. But I know I can go talk to her. I don’t really like cemeteries, but I know I would feel more comfortable there where her painting [is located],” says Darrin Thomas.

Before the mural was installed, Darrin says his last image of Thomas was “seeing her dead in her car with a sheet over her.” In the mural, Thomas was depicted smiling, helping paint a new image of her in his mind, he says.

On December 7, a viral post circulated of the store owner erasing the mural. “It broke my heart all over again,” says Darrin.

Members of the community, including Darrin, protested, launching a two-day boycott during which some people stood at the entrance telling others to not patronize the store.

On Dec. 8, Davis, along with Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, went to the store to ask Hong why he took the mural down. White and Davis asked the owner to pay for the mural to be reinstalled, and he agreed, putting $1,000 towards a new image. The mural was repainted by the same muralist over the weekend of Dec. 12.

The new mural is more “vibrant and colorful,” like Thomas, says Davis.

The community is now patronizing the business again, according to Park. “There was no impact [on sales] after the incident. … According to [Hong,] community members are actually sending many thanks to him for putting the mural back up,” she says.

But the resolution of the issue was only possible because of community organizers, says Councilmember White.

“It was the people who stood outside protesting who moved the needle,” he says.