Two young men were caught on camera smashing rocks at a charter school in Scottsdale, Arizona, for more than an hour.
BASIS Scottsdale, a charter school for students in grades 5 through 12, was vandalized for the third time last year.
When school officials arrived Monday morning, they found nearly 30 broken or damaged windows on campus. Surveillance cameras showed two boys using rocks to break windows inside and outside the building, destroying windows in the gymnasium, front lobby, staff rooms and at least eight classrooms. ABC 15 Arizona report.
School officials told reporters that the two boys spent 90 minutes walking around the school trying to break the windows, and in some cases spent more than 10 minutes trying to break through some of the glass. Most of the damage was done to windows on the lower level of the building.
The children also hid from passing cars. The alleged vandals eventually fled the scene on two electric bicycles.
“Well, we're really over the edge…It's frustrating,” Principal Tyler Garvey said.
Garvey said he believes it was the same two minors who vandalized the school on separate occasions, one during winter break in December 2022 and the other during spring break in 2023.
“We believe it was the same two students, two children who did this. We don't have them as students in our school, so we are also working with local middle schools and elementary schools to get pictures of them. 'We're going to share them with them and see if our staff can recognize them,' Garvey added.
Police say no arrests have been made, but the investigation is continuing by reviewing surveillance video. Police also took photos of the crime scene and searched for fingerprints.
Cleanup crews said the restoration project could take more than four weeks because new windows will need to be ordered and installed.
Older students have been assigned to online classes to allow space for younger students to use undamaged classrooms.
School officials had hoped that the suspect would be found this third time, as video surveillance of the crime in progress was available.
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