Vandals spray painted headstones, cut soccer netting at Richmond park

Richmond Police have asked residents to check their doorbell cameras for footage and contact police if they saw suspicious behavior last week after vandalism was reported at Bennett Park, Richmond Cemetery and an apartment building on Prairie Ridge Road.

Damage last week included pushing over portable toilets, cutting soccer netting, forcing entry into a maintenance shed and spray painting park equipment, park grounds and gravestones, according to a news release issued Monday.

The orange and white spray paint found at the cemetery, on Richmond’s west side, seems to match spray paint found on a brick apartment building near the police department, Sgt. Jennifer Fillicaro said in an interview.

At the cemetery, the reported vandalism included damage to mementos and flowers left at gravesites. “Vases and glass mementos left on a plot were smashed in a road,” Fillicaro said. “It is sad.”

Police are unsure when the three areas were damaged, but reports were made on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, June 27-30, she added.

Richmond Village President Toni Wardanian said Monday she believes the spray paint had been cleared from the gravestones and the soccer nets are being replaced.

Volunteers often check the cemetery and clean up there, Fillicaro said.

Police believe the damage occurred at night, as residents usually call the station when they see unusual activity during the day, Fillicaro said.

The presumption is the damage was caused by juveniles, but that is only a guess, officials said.

“The last time something like this happened it was adults,” Wardanian said.

In February 2021, two women, the ages 21 and 37, and a 24-year-old man where charged with spray-painted obscenities on a street-facing wall at the Richmond Grade School and defacing field house doors, windows, benches and walls at Bennett Park.

All three were levied fines over $6,000, according to court records.