FARMINGTON – A spree of more than 80 property damage claims this weekend brought the Farmington Police Department, Durango Police Department and San Juan County Sheriff’s Office together to find and question three suspects.
The three agencies took more than 80 reports of property damage, primarily broken vehicle windows, from Friday night through Saturday morning, the Farmington Police Department said in a news release. Projectiles, possibly from a slingshot, were believed to have caused the broken windows.
In Durango, at least 23 windows were broken during this time frame, according to reports from the Durango Police Department. In Durango, a heavy concentration of the broken car windows were in the neighborhood south of College Drive, where seven car windows were broken.
“It’s a senseless act of vandalism. There’s no rhyme or reason for it, just the gratification of breaking someone else’s car window,” DPD Cmdr. Rita Warfield told The Durango Herald on Sunday.
Nothing was taken from the cars, leading police to suspect a BB gun, pellet gun or slingshot was being used from a moving vehicle.
Additional reports of property damage were filed on Saturday evening, according to the Farmington Police Department. A man also reported being shot in the leg with a paintball.
On Sunday, Farmington police and San Juan County Sheriff’s Office deputies found and stopped a car that matched descriptions provided to the three agencies. Detectives questioned a 17-year-old male, a 17-year-old female and a 18-year-old male inside the vehicle. Farmington detectives were seeking a search warrant for the vehicle believed to be involved in the spree, as of Sunday evening. The names of the teenagers have not been released.
Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe thanked San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, the Durango Police Department and the public for their help in the case.
“The information provided by our citizens coupled with the coordinated effort of area law enforcement, led us to quickly identifying and locating our suspects,” Hebbe said in a written statement.
The investigation is ongoing, Farmington Police Department spokeswoman Nicole Brown said. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the department’s Detective Tip Line at (505) 599-1068.
Durango residents were urged to check their security cameras and report any incidents online or by calling its Crimestoppers hotline at 247-1112.
lweber@durangoherald.com