A different type of “art” painted El Paseo on Saturday. Vandals painted sidewalks, signs, a car and stores early in the morning.
“Nice area, upscale and they don’t have any regard for other people,” Miles Gordon, a shopper on El Paseo, said.
Earlier that week on Wednesday, deputies responded to a grand theft at Louis Vuitton on El Paseo, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Four male suspects took an undisclosed amount of merchandise and left in a dark colored vehicle.
Deputies later found the vehicle and three juveniles from Compton at a restaurant where they were arrested, a press release said. The fourth was not yet apprehended. Days later, that same Louis Vuitton was vandalized.
The sheriff’s department could not confirm with NBC Palm Springs that the theft and vandalism had a connection. The department also cannot release surveillance video due to an ongoing investigation.
El Paseo was not the only place that was tagged by vandalism. Palm Desert High School was also a victim between 2 and 5 a.m., according to school officials.
“It didn’t match what would be traditional from a rival,” Chuck Mazet, assistant principal of PDHS, said. “It matched more of a graffiti writing or a gang writing.”
School walls, doors and a ticket stand got tagged with almost identical vandalism as El Paseo. PDHS students assumed it was their rival, La Quinta High School, after a win at Friday night’s football game.
PDHS got in front of the feud on Twitter by saying the culprit(s) was not LQHS.
“I’m very concerned about it,” Gordon said. “I hope the police catch these guys.”
The only thing PDHS has left to fix is the ticket booth. The three suspects in the theft case were all booked into juvenile hall in the city of Indio.
The Palm Desert Station Business District Team is asking anyone with additional information to contact Deputy Steven Nelson at (760) 836-1600 or call anonymously at (760) 341-STOP (7867) and reference incident #T192890111.
