Police Department

Car Lot Damage

Sgt. Terry Preuninger, PIO

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 8:49 p.m.

On 05/04/2020 at approximately 1556 hours multiple officers were dispatched to a call for Malicious Mischief at a dealership parking lot on the southwest corner of 3rd Ave. and Ash St.  The complainant was on scene at the lot and had chased 4 suspects away from the lot. He observed multiple new vehicle windows damaged.

The location is a fenced in off-site storage parking lot for new Toyota cars and trucks. The fencing was approximately 6 or 7 feet tall and was clearly designed to keep people out.

The complainant described what he believed happened. He stated a few days ago BNSF Police had removed a homeless encampment on the far west side of the lot, bordering the BNSF railway property. He believes the transient males destroyed the cars over the last few days as a form of retaliation for the encampment being removed.

Officers observed what appeared to be the remnants of the encampment in the corner of the lot.  There was also a cargo trailer transients had turned into a makeshift encampment. It was packed full of debris commonly found in a homeless camp.

In total, 12 vehicles were damaged to varying degrees.  The damage was estimated at about $59,500 to repair.

SPD is reviewing security camera footage from surrounding locations in an attempt to identify the individuals involved in the incident.

The complainant was able to describe two of the suspects:

Suspect 1 was described as 30-40 years old, white male, 5'10" tall and about 210 lbs. He has longer hair and was wearing a olive green long sleeve shirt and jeans.

Suspect 2 is either a white or Native American male, 30-40 years old, 5'10" tall, around 200 lbs. He was wearing gray sweat pants and a white t-shirt. He has a "sloppy" beard.

SPD would like anyone with information regarding this incident to please call Crime Check at 456-2233 and reference report #2020-20073849

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