SNOHOMISH — Police are seeking help in identifying the vandals responsible for a recent graffiti spree.
On Dec. 5 or early Dec. 6, several buildings and a Snohomish Senior Center shuttle van were “tagged” with spray-painted graffiti.
Taggings happened in the 100 block of Avenue B, the 1100 block of First Street, the 1300 block of Park Avenue, the 1600 block of Pine Ave-nue, the 1700 block of Terrace Avenue and the senior center at 506 Fourth St.
Police ask any residents or nearby businesses with surveillance video that evening to contact them.
The new tagging comes on the heels of a similar spree Oct. 28 to 29, in which a different senior center van was spray painted.
Two suspects were arrested in conjunction with that incident. One, an 18-year-old Olympia man, is awaiting charges from the Snohomish County Prosecutor.
“Neither of these incidents appear to be gang related in any way,” said Sgt. Nathan Alanis of the Snohomish Police Department. “Prior to last month we hadn’t had very many incidents of tagging that were reported, so I believe this is an outlier and not part of a growing trend.”
Alanis cautioned people to be alert for suspicious activity, and to report it as soon as they see it.
During the recent spree, a person told police he watched the suspects tag a building yet did not dial 911.
“People need to be vigilant if they want to combat this type of crime,” Alanis said.
The senior center’s director, Sharon Burlison, said it may force upgrading the center’s security system.
“(The tagging is) disappointing to see. It’s not a true representation of our community,“ Burlison said.
The vans were parked out of camera range in each of the incidents.
“It’s making us spend money we had not allocated to upgrade our security system,” Burlison said. “We have better plans to use our money to help seniors.“
“Now I have to upgrade the cameras to get the whole parking lot, or move the vans. We shouldn’t have to go to these extremes.”
Jake English, owner of English Automotive Detailing, voluntarily scrubbed the graffiti off the senior center shuttle the following morning. He also cleaned the senior center van tagged in the October incident for free. His grandmother attends the center.
“Snohomish isn’t about tagging,” English said. “It’s ridiculous.”
They said there’s one piece of silver lining: The senior center shuttle didn’t have a vehicle logo wrap.
“They didn’t target the senior center. They targeted that big white van with no logo on it,” Burlison said, adding: “If that van was all logoed up, I’d be spending a lot more money than Jake’s free labor.”
