2 boys vandalized Volusia County school

Louise S. McInnis Elementary School sustains $10,000 in damage

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – Volusia County deputies said two boys were caught Saturday breaking into an elementary school in DeLeon Springs, causing an estimated $10,000 in damage.

Deputies said it wasn't their first time vandalizing the school.

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Deputies said the boys, ages 12 and 13, admitted to vandalizing the school about three weeks ago as well.

Deputies said the first of the two incidents at Louise S. McInnis Elementary School on North U.S. Highway 17 was reported on Dec. 2 -- the first day schools returned to session following the Thanksgiving break.

Deputies said that's when school officials discovered that several classrooms at McInnis Elementary had been broken into.

Deputies said windows in two classrooms as well as a portable had been smashed with rocks. A water pipe was broken in another portable. No suspects were located at the time.

On Saturday, a deputy was dispatched to the school because an alarm was going off, officials said.

Officials said when the deputy arrived, he discovered that a large concrete rock had been used to smash the glass doors to one of the buildings on campus.

While investigating, the deputy heard noises coming from the north end of the school grounds, officials said.

When he followed the sounds, the deputy spotted two boys discharging a fire extinguisher, officials said.

As the boys realized they had been spotted, they took off running and hopped over a fence, deputies said..

Deputies said shortly after 2 p.m., a nearby resident reported to deputies that two of his son's friends were hiding in his house.

The man escorted the boys out of his house and turned them over to deputies.

During questioning, they admitted to breaking windows, shooting off fire extinguishers and throwing crayons, markers, tables and chairs around, deputies said. A preliminary estimate put the damage at $10,000.

Deputies said the boys also admitted to committing the previous vandalism. They were charged with burglary, criminal mischief and grand theft and then released to their families at the direction of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, with one of the boys being placed on home detention.

 


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