Armed with baseball bats, they smashed window after window.
Three shadowy figures caught on surveillance video are the vandals who hit three city schools, miles apart, in a span of just twenty minutes, believe police in Millville, N.J.
The three schools are Rieck Avenue and Silver Run Elementary Schools and Millville Senior High School.
“It’s so sad that the children’s place, where they’re learning and feeling safe is being violated,” said Debbie Homan, a supervisor at Rieck Avenue Elementary.
Starting around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, the culprits shattered a total of 25 windows at the elementary schools, said police.
They then moved on to Millville Senior High School where six more windows were taken out, according to police.
It all adds up to as much as $30,000 in damage, school officials said.
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“When I got the call, I had to ask, ‘What did you say?’ because I couldn’t believe it was happening to that many schools,” said Millville’s Superintendent of Schools Dr. Shelly Schneider.
“We’ve had vandalism in the past but this is probably more significant than [what] we’ve seen... I haven’t had any threats or any idea why they would do this,” Schneider told NBC 10 News.
The school district’s insurance company will pay for the repairs, except for a $5,000 deductible, said Schneider. That’s still a blow to their budget in these tough economic times, when money is already tight.
“We’re taking money from something else that could be a successful program or support for students and we’re needlessly spending it,” Schneider said.
Police believe the vandals got around in a dark mini-van with silver trim. A fourth person may have served as a getaway driver, Millville Police Detective Keith O’Brien said.
“I’m hoping the public might be able to look at the video and possibly identity the van, possibly some subjects were out after hours,” said O’Brien.
Anyone with information about the vandals is urged to call Millville Police at 856-825-7000, extension 7322.
