MARYSVILLE — Dozens of bullet holes riddled windows of Pinewood Elementary School when students returned from winter break Wednesday. Somebody shot up the school on New Year’s Eve.
By Thursday evening, Marysville police said they believe they have identified those responsible for the gunfire.
Acting on a tip, police arrested two men, a 19-year-old from Marysville and a 18-year-old from Tulalip. They were booked into the Snohomish County Jail for investigation of first-degree malicious mischief.
More than 60 shots appear to have been fired at the school. Damage was estimated at up to $50,000, according to police.
“The current information we have supports our original assessment that this was an act of vandalism and that no person or persons were the target of their actions,” Marysville police detective Craig Bartl said in a press release.
The investigation is ongoing, and police are continuing to explore the possibility that others might have been involved. A firearm was seized during the arrests, police said.
Security footage suggested the shots were fired from an inner courtyard between 11:55 p.m. New Year’s Eve and 12:20 a.m. on New Year’s Day, when people would have been lighting off fireworks, Marysville police Cmdr. Mark Thomas said.
A neighbor heard an alarm going off around 1 a.m. at the school on 84th Street NE, found the damage and called police.
Many of the windows had the blinds drawn. That was extremely concerning to Thomas. What if a janitor had been on duty? Or what if a teacher was doing some late-night preparation for classes?
“This was upsetting to us, that somebody would act out in such an aggressive manner,” Thomas said. “And for what?”
Some of the dozens of bullet holes in windows at Pinewood Elementary School in Marysville. (Marysville Police Department)
He’s concerned, too, about the kind of mindset that would lead someone to shoot at a school.
At local schools, Marysville police have taken plenty of reports of graffiti, small fires, and even vandalism from BB guns, but never anything like this.
Kids returned to class to find staff had made school pride posters to cover up the bullet holes.
“The facilities people did a phenomenal job of working on a holiday to clean up both inside and outside, and covered the vast majority of the windows,” Thomas said.
Scott North contributed to this report. Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.
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