Crime & Safety

Police Investigating Ax and Graffiti Cases

The police are trying to determine the origin of the ax used in the Armory incident; summertime graffiti is not uncommon.

Westfield Police are continuing to investigate a series of graffiti incidents which hit town last week, along with a bizarre incident on Aug. 11, where a car parked at the Armory was extensively damaged with an ax.

Police Captain David Wayman said the department is currently trying to determine the origin of the ax used in the Armory incident. An employee of the Armory reported to police that their car had received two broken windows and extensive body damage from an ax. Wayman said there are no suspects in the case at this time. He declined to reveal if there is any motive being investigated as to why someone used an ax to attack that car.

"We are still trying to determine where the ax came from," he said. "It could have been there before. We don't know if it was brought there with the intent of doing the damage."

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Wayman said the department has routinely found that graffiti incidents increase in the summer months, when kids are out of school and are looking for things to do with their time. On Aug. 10, silver graffiti was found on a dugout behind Edison Intermediate School and on Aug. 12 graffiti was found on two Board of Education vehicles used to transport band equipment and on Baron's Drug Store. The band transport vehicles were parked at Edison School.

Wayman said it is not known if the Edison incidents are related to the graffiti at the drug store. The Union County prosecutor's office routinely receives data on graffiti incidents in the county and intercedes if there is a rash of incidents or the graffiti is gang-related. But the current incidents do not appear to be gang-related and there has not been a large number of graffiti taggings countywide. Wayman said last year, when the town had graffiti taggings, the police were able to apprehend juveniles for the case.

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"We go through periods of time, where graffiti picks up," Wayman said.


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