Early Chief of Police David Mercer reported that the Early Police Department began investigating a case of arson which occurred at the Early High School Stadium on Sunday night.
According to the report, individuals set two fires on the Early ISD campus inside the football stadium. The Early Police Department was contacted by Early Athletic Director Blake Sanford who was made aware of the burn locations in the stadium by a student who saw a video on snapchat, the report states.
EPD Corporal Brandon McMillian and Detective Billy Bloom began an investigation of the incident. It was determined that a group of juveniles entered the football stadium sometime Sunday night, June 5, 2016 at approximately 9:30 p.m. According to the police, the juveniles used cardboard and trash to start a small fire on the 50-yard line in the center of the field, on the yellow longhorn design. The fire damaged a small spot in the turf causing approximately $25,000 damage, the report states. The juveniles then went under the home side bleachers and started a second larger fire on top of a table, again using cardboard, according to the report. This fire caused only minimal damage of burn marks to the aluminum table, the report states. Both fires went undetected and burned themselves out.
Two juvenile suspects were identified, a 14-year-old female and a 15-year-old male, both who will be freshman at Early High School in the fall.
All evidence has been corroborated along with video evidence which has been obtained, said Mercer. The case will be presented to Juvenile Probation and the County Attorney Wednesday to file charges and pick up the juveniles, stated Mercer.
