What was thought to be a senior prank at first, turned into a hate crime investigation at Vandenberg Village's Cabrillo High School.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies say early Tuesday morning, Cabrillo High School staff, along with members of the Lompoc Unified School District, were notified of vandalism on campus.
"The report was that there was vandalism that included racial slurs and painting on walls and over murals throughout the Cabrillo High School campus," said Raquel Zick, Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer.
A statement from the district says Cabrillo High staff as well as members from LUSD's Maintenance and Operations Department spent much of Tuesday painting over the graffiti, boarding up shattered windows and cleaning up the rest of the mess left behind.
District Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, Doug Sorum, also commented on the incident, saying, "We offer our sincere thanks to the hardworking staff at Cabrillo High and our M&O team for quickly responding to repair and clean up this damage."
District officials, as well as Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies, say they are still searching for those responsible.
The cost of the damage has still not been made available, but Mark Swanitz, principal of Cabrillo High, told KSBY News that the district and authorities are still working on gathering more information.
Meantime, Cabrillo High School students we spoke with also said that they were given little to no details regarding the vandalism, and that they couldn't comment more on this investigation.
The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone who may have information about this incident to call them or make an anonymous report online. They can be reached by clicking here: https://www.sbsheriff.org/home/anonymous-tip/
