Windows were shattered and police officers’ vehicles were vandalized early Saturday morning at the San Diego Police Department’s Mid City Police Station, officials said.
According to police, an unknown vandal or vandals threw a rock through the front window of the station’s lobby and the community center, leaving shattered glass everywhere.
The personal vehicles of four police officers who were at work were also targeted and vandalized in the same manner, officials said.
According to the SDPD, this is the second time in just one week that this police station has been vandalized. Last week, an unknown person shot a pellet gun into one of the windows of the station that faces Fairmount Avenue.
Officials held a media briefing Saturday asking the public to be on the lookout for the vandalism suspect, described as a Caucasian man in his mid-30s wearing a grey, long-sleeve T-shirt and jeans. He has shoulder-length, dark brown hair, police said.
“Let all of us work together to make sure this does not happen again," SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman said at the briefing.
“Some of these officers have been here at this division for almost 20 years, serving this community faithfully and loyally. For this to happen, I’m a little frustrated as Commanding Officer and I know that they are as well,” said Mid City Commanding Officer Chris McGrath.
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The Mid City Police Station is located at 4310 Landis St., in the heart of City Heights.
“We take this very seriously and consider it a direct threat to the safety and security of this community. Whoever is bold enough to vandalize the symbolic facility that houses the men and women committed to protecting and serving, imagine what else they are capable of,” the SDPD said. “We are asking the community to come together once again to help us find whoever is responsible for this and stop the escalation of violence.”
"We need to get these individuals into custody as quickly as possible," Chief Zimmerman added.
City Heights resident Sedrick Ntwali said he was shocked to learn of the damage done to the police station.
"I couldn’t accept this. I thought, ‘Really? The police department?’ I couldn’t believe someone was doing this to the police department,” he told NBC 7. “Looking at the community, if something like this can happen to the police department, then it can happen to my community, it can happen to my neighbors. It a security concern.”
Ntwali said the incident has left him feeling on edge and he's worried about vandals roaming lose around the area.
“If this act of vandalism happens to the police department then it can be worse to the community. Seeing the police department vandalized, it doesn’t really feel safe [in my community] at this point. It’s really bad,” he lamented.
