Vandals Criss-Cross Downtown Grass Valley, Tagging Buildings And Defacing Public Art
GRASS VALLEY (CBS13) – Cleanup is now complete after a prolific vandalism spree in downtown Grass Valley.
Someone hit 15 different spots with graffiti overnight Tuesday in the downtown core. Besides businesses, the vandals also defaced public artwork, and it all happened just as businesses prepared for a two-day celebration on Mill Street for the Fourth of July weekend.
As the search for the suspects begins, on Wednesday morning, volunteers with civic pride began making Grass Valley clean again by power washing the streets and painting the walls after vandals hit the downtown core, tagging more than a dozen locations.
Mayor Ben Aguilar got the alert of the overnight crime-spree early in the morning.
"Oh I was just bummed out," Aguilar said. "You wake up, and you go to social media and you see posts about graffiti downtown on businesses with damage on the front. It's disheartening."
The vandals even jumped on rooftops of Mill Street businesses and hopped from one building to the next tagging spaces the public can't see.
Grass Valley police are using video from surveillance cameras to try and identify the suspects. They say the graffiti tagged on private and public property does not appear to have any specific messaging.
"This isn't normal for Grass Valley," Sgt. Clint Lovelady said. "Downtown officers started walking on foot and just checked every single business and every city block until they found it all."
Criss-crossing downtown with an overnight crime spree, the vandals tried to make their mark.
"They did a number," Mayor Aguilar said. "They did a number on the town."