Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Four Glenelg High School students were arrested Thursday and charged with hate crimes and destruction of property after Howard County Police said they spray painted offensive graffiti on their school overnight.
When officials got to the school Thursday morning they found racial slurs, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic graffiti on the building according to police spokesperson Sherry Llewellyn. Some of the graffiti targeted the school’s African American principal.
The school resource officer reviewed surveillance camera footage and recognized the people he saw spray painting the graffiti as 18-year-olds Seth Taylor, Tyler Curtiss, Joshua Shaffer and Matthew Lipp according to Llewellyn.
Taylor, Curtiss and Shaffer were arrested at school Thursday morning. Lipp was picked up by police at his home.
“This is not something that we would consider a senior prank. It’s a hate crime, and it’s being charged as a hate crime, which of course will change the lives of these four young men who made a terrible choice,” Llewellyn said.
Before the arrests were made, Superintendent of Howard County Public Schools Dr. Michael Martirano condemned the vandalism. Martirano said he would hold people accountable for any act of hate, and their punishments could include expulsion.
“We will not tolerate this in Howard County or in the Howard County Public School system,” Martirano said as a press conference before the arrests.
Llewellyn said the four could spend up to three years in prison if convicted.
By Thursday afternoon, a school spokesperson told WMAL the graffiti had all been removed or painted over.
Copyright 2018 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Howard County Public Schools)
