Vehicle vandals apprehended

GROSSE POINTE PARK — A group of teenagers were arrested last week after a reported vandalism spree that damaged dozens of vehicles in Grosse Pointe Park.

Park Public Safety Deputy Director James Bostock said the three male suspects — all Detroiters and all under the age of 17 — had been shooting out vehicle windows with a BB gun for roughly a week and a half from early to mid-April. The department fielded calls from an estimated 40 residents whose vehicle windows were broken by the suspects, amounting to what Bostock said was “tens of thousands of dollars in damage,” not to mention inconvenience to residents who needed to get their windows repaired or replaced and might have been without access to their vehicles as a result.

“It affected a lot of people,” Bostock said.

He said the suspects would enter the city, shoot out windows on a couple of blocks and then flee.

Officer Brady Baetens was on patrol the night of April 18 and watching out for possible vandals when, Bostock said, he pulled over a vehicle for a different violation at around 11 p.m.; he had been in an area where police had just gotten more reports of vehicle vandalism. Bostock said Baetens saw what looked like a gun in the vehicle but what turned out to be a BB gun. Bostock said Baetens got confessions from the three teens that they had been the ones driving through the Park and shooting at vehicle windows in recent days. He said Baetens arrested the three suspects.

A police report states that multiple BB guns used in the attacks were confiscated.

“With a combination of really good police work and luck, we put an end to it,” Bostock said of the vandalism.

Because the suspects are all juveniles, it’s not known what, if any, charges might be issued against them by Wayne County criminal justice officials.