The Perry Police Department and the Perry School District are investigating a vandalism incident from this past Sunday, where someone spray painted hate speech at the main entrance to the high school.
Police Chief Eric Vaughn tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the incident occurred at around 2 a.m. Sunday, but wasn’t reported to his department until around 7:30 p.m. that day. Vaughn says the message, which said, “Report Illegals” and included the phone number for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was likely targeted at the Perry Latino Festival held Sunday afternoon. However, given the placement of the graffiti, it wasn’t noticed by anyone for quite some time, including Vaughn who was at the festival for most of the day. He was glad that the vandals responsible failed in any attempts to spoil the celebration.
School officials and maintenance responded immediately to the reports of the vandalism and covered up the message late Sunday. Superintendent Clark Wicks was happy to report that the message was gone before school started Monday morning. The Perry Public Works Department also helped out by power washing the spray paint off on Monday. Wicks felt it was ironic that whoever was responsible was so passionate about people engaging in illegal activity that they would do something illegal themselves. He feels the incident is disheartening, but emphasizes that the individuals responsible don’t speak for the Perry community.
The police and school are currently reviewing footage of the incident, which shows an SUV pull up to the high school entrance. After a short time a person gets out of the passenger side with a stencil and performed the vandalism. They then get back into the vehicle, which quickly drives away. Vaughn says it will take some time to fully go over the video, but he’s confident they’ll be able to use it to find suspects. In the meantime, he encourages anyone who has information to reach out to the police department at 515-465-4636, reminding callers they can remain anonymous. Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.