In a matter of minutes, three vandals caused thousands of dollars in damage to a Guilderland business early Monday morning, April 14.
Renaissance Floral Design owner David Schmidt arrived at his Western Avenue business to find many of the outside fixtures on the property knocked over and broken into pieces.
Two boys came in from the front through the cones, and one jumped over the wall at the church, said Schmidt, who caught the act on surveillance tape.
`All had hoodies on and two of them were carrying skateboards.` Schmidt estimates the boys are between 13 and 17 years old.
The vandals walked throughout the property knocking over four statues, two large cement urns and destroying wooden birdhouses before running off.
The vandalism occurred at 3:30 a.m. and lasted just two minutes before the teens ran off.
Schmidt estimates the damage to be about $5,000.
`Their only project when they got here was to destroy property,` said Schmidt.
`They actually just came in to break things and vandalize the store and then bolted.`
Schmidt says kids have cut through his property before to reach Crossgates Mall, but since opening the business in 2003, he’s never experienced vandalism like this.
`We’ve had people mess with a couple things here and there,` said Schmidt.
`We haven’t wanted to gate it but now I think we may just put in a cast iron gate all around.`
Anyone having information on the vandalism is aked to call the Guilderland Police Department at 356-1501. “