The Chart Online

Unknown culprits slash vehicle tires
T.J. Gerlach

Staff Writer

Two unknown individuals slashed tires on five vehicles early in the morning of Oct. 19.

At approximately 2 a.m., Raymond Magee, an officer with campus security, saw a brown station wagon driving toward Newman Road in front of Blaine Hall. The vehicle stopped and two young males got out. The driver of the vehicle proceeded to the stop sign in front of Blaine.

The two males began running toward the station wagon, stopping between every vehicle. When Magee got outside, the pair had already entered the vehicle and driven off. Paul Thompson, another security officer, believes he may have seen the vehicle leaving the parking lot.

Magee then checked the vehicles the two males had stopped between and noticed there was one flat tire on all of the vehicles. He then called Joplin police to report the incident.

Only the report from Magee was filed in the safety and security office. The report lists the five vehicles and their owners.

Jennifer Rogers, freshman International Business and Spanish major, was about to leave for a parade Saturday morning when she found a knife mark in one of the front tires of her Toyota Corolla. She put on the spare tire and barely made it to the parade. Rogers, the only female victim, said she called security to file a report, but they told me that they already had one on file and didn t need mine.

It happened early in the morning, said Joshua Hagberg, senior elementary education major who also had a tire slashed on his Chevrolet Monte Carlo. And it did get me up at 3 in the morning. It was an inconvenience for me this week having to get around.

The other vehicles vandalized belonged to students Moses Manga, Matthew Schell and visitor Joshua Nickels

Magee said the suspects appeared to be between the ages of 17 and 19 and were of average height and weight.

It s impossible to say if they were students or not, said Ken Kennedy, manager of safety and security. We don t know actually who they are.

He said that the Joplin Police Department believes this incident may be linked with similar property damage incidents that recently occurred in Webb City.

The investigation for this incident is being conducted by the JPD. Kennedy said anyone who may have information concerning this case should contact either JPD or the safety and security office.