Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Franklin rooms trashed

Three rooms in the Franklin Building - including the main office of the UA East Asian Studies department - were trashed Tuesday night by vandals who destroyed computers and wrote an anarchy symbol on a chalkboard, police said.

"Everything in the office was simply trashed," said Brian McKnight, East Asian Studies department head. "Somebody took the time to pull cards out of computers and saw on them with what looks like a hacksaw. Whoever did this really took the time to trash the place."

University of Arizona Police Department reports state that unknown suspects broke into the Franklin Building, 1011 E. Fifth St., and caused extensive damage to three rooms Tuesday night sometime before 11:09 p.m.

A security officer went into the building after a fire alarm sounded on the fourth floor of Franklin. The security officer saw smoke and shattered glass by the East Asian Studies main office.

The Tucson Fire Department arrived and discovered extensive damage to the room, the report stated. There was no fire, but smoke was coming from a microwave that was damaged.

The East Asian Studies room had a 30-foot glass window broken out, damage to every computer and copier, and the microwave was destroyed.

Police found two fire extinguishers on the floor of the office, and it appeared that they were used to destroy desks and computers, the report stated.

Spots of blood were found in the room, and police sent the blood and fire extinguishers to a lab for testing.

After further search of the building, the other two vandalized rooms were discovered.

On the fifth floor, a private office was broken into and the computer and desk were smashed, the report stated. Blood was also found in that room.

The third vandalized room was a classroom on the third floor. Police found chairs thrown around the room and a projector and television damaged.

On the chalk board in the room was a message with the word "suck," followed by the anarchy symbol, a capital letter "A" with a circle drawn around it, followed by the word "fuck," the report stated.

UAPD Cmdr. Brian Seastone said there are no suspects in the case yet.

"We are looking into a couple things right now, but we don't have any suspects," Seastone said. "And as far as we know, the building was secured. We will investigate it."