BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — UPDATE: Buffalo police say a 13-year-old boy has been arrested in connection to the vandalism and charged with third-degree burglary and criminal mischief. According to police, he unlawfully entered the park's casino and damaged windows, doors, kitchen items, and other property. The investigation is ongoing and further arrests could be made.
ORIGINAL: Buffalo Police are searching for whoever vandalized parts of Martin Luther King Park and the splash pad.
“Hateful people do hateful things,” reflected Samuel Herbert, a community activist.
Department of Public Work crews trying to power wash away the hateful damage Thursday morning along a section of the popular MLK splash pad.
City crews tell me they believe whoever broke into the MLK casino building earlier this week tossed a large amount of an industrial glue onto the cement pad below.
“The vandalism at Martin Luther Park was pretty extensive. Very disappointing, extremely disappointing to me, disappointing to the entire community,” remarked Mayor Byron Brown.
Mayor Brown and Public Works Commissioner Nate Marton say there was significant damage to the inside of the MLK casino building that was undergoing a $2 million dollar renovation project by the city.
“Extensive damage to walls, furniture, fixtures, thermostats ripped off the wall...activated the fire alarm system...the Ansell system, so a lot of things have got to go back, restore, rebuild, takeout, replace,” explained Marton.
Department of Public Work crews say this splash pad will remain closed until all the work is completed.
“There's really some people out here who don't want people on the east side of Buffalo having anything that is nice that is for the public,” replied Herbert.
Herbert, a long-time community activist, once lead the coalition to save MLK Park and the splash pad and continues to be a watchdog.
“When I’m out here talking to parents, I tell them to look out for your children and look out for other people’s children and look out for people who look suspicious,”
“You've got to be outraged?” Buckley asked. “I'm outraged when anything happens in MLK Park, especially if it has anything to do with the splash pad,” responded Herbert.
Herbert is now hoping the vandalism is a wake-up call for more security measures.
“We need to have walking security while the kids are out here,” noted Herbert. “We have every nationality coming into the splash pad, every nationality and it's a great thing to see people just chilling and getting wet. Children running and ripping in fallen and running to their parents and coming back out here still getting wet.”
There are surveillance cameras on the building, but public work crews told me they believe vandals broke into the building and cut power off to prevent cameras from recording.
The city says police are working on leads.
“It is really sad that someone would do this kind of damage to such a well-loved park and facility in our community and have an impact on the ability for members of our community to be able to enjoy it and use it,” stated Mayor Brown.
The city says “there has been an additional $8 million in capital improvements to the park including the splash pad, playgrounds, park shelters, pathways, sports courts, security and other improvement” at MLK.
City officials say total damage could exceed $50,000. But Brown told reporters Thursday that State Assemblywoman Crystal People-Stokes of Buffalo called him saying she would work on a state level to help provide resources/funding for repairs.
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