Police investigate rash of vandalism

Police have now determined that 40 SUVs were vandalized in Bloomington and on campus over the weekend. The Bloomington Police Department has made one arrest and is now following leads in an investigation into the rash of vandalism.\nBloomington Police Cpt. Joe Qualters said more than 60 SUVs and a few high-end vehicles such as BMWs have been targeted by vandals since the beginning of September. Vandals struck 22 SUVs in town and about 18 on campus over the weekend.\nQualters said the police are focusing on apparently related cases of vandalism involving slashed tires and defacement with spray paint. While a few luxury cars have been hit, the vandals appear to be targeting SUVs.\nCiting a lack of concrete evidence, Qualters couldn't say whether the acts have been perpetrated by radical environmentalists, as some victims speculate.\n"Obviously, there's something with SUVs in particular," Qualters said. "But no one's claiming responsibility, and they've left nothing on the vehicles to indicate that it's political. \n"We can't surmise anything. You can draw your own conclusions."\nSo far, police have only made one arrest.\nEarly Saturday morning, two citizens spotted a man kneeling down by a hissing tire at the corner of 11th and Grant Streets, according to the police report. They called out to him and he took off running, the report said.\nThe citizens chased after the man and briefly detained him, according to the report. After a brief struggle, the police report said one of the pursuers suffered a cut on his hand, which he told police the suspect inflicted.\nAccording to the police report, the suspect then took off again before the citizens detained him once more and brought him back to the scene of the crime. Officer Bill Jeffries arrived on the scene at 4:06 a.m. and made an arrest, the report said.\nJeffries could not locate the sharp object the man allegedly used in the act of vandalism and during the subsequent flight, the police report said. According to the report, Jeffries took the suspect back to the station for questioning, where he told investigators that he had simply been returning home from a bar.\nMussie F. Debessay, of 406 E. 11th St., a 27-year-old graduate student, faces a preliminary charge of criminal mischief, a class D felony. He was bonded out of the Monroe County Correctional Facility Sunday afternoon on $500 cash bail and $2,000 surety, a prison spokesman said.\nQualters said the department doubts that the some 40 acts of vandalism over the weekend could have been committed by a single man. They plan on taking the suspect back in for questioning to determine if others were involved, Qualters said. \nMost of the vandalism took place between 8th and 11th streets and Grant St. and Park Ave., Qualters said. The police have beefed up their nightly patrols in those and other neighborhoods.\nOn campus, much of the vandalism took place along the 7th Street corridor, IU Police Department Sgt. Chad Bennett said\nQualters urged anyone who observes suspicious behavior to call the Bloomington Police Department at 339-4477.