A 37-year-old Longmont man is facing a felony criminal mischief charge after he went on a vandalism spree in downtown early Wednesday morning, shattering windows at the Longmont Public Library, the Civic Center, Longmont Public Media and at the 141-year-old Old St. Stephens Church.
“We are feeling just violated,” Alyce DeSantis, executive director of the St. Vrain Historical Society, which is housed at the church. “It’s sad, and just discouraging.”
The suspect, Juan Arnulfo Salas, broke as many as 10 stained glass windows on the south side of Old St. Stephens Church, causing as much as $20,000 in damage, DeSantis said.”We should have a better idea of the cost fairly soon. We are just assessing what happened.”
Rocks went through the Longmont Public Media building, 457 Fourth Ave, hitting the studio and the equipment room, Sergio Angeles, co-founder and executive director of Longmont Public Media said. Cameras caught footage of the suspect, Angeles said.
“We are assessing the damage now,” he said, adding no one was in the building at the time of the attack. Longmont Public Media is located at the Longmont Carnegie Library, which is owned by the city of Longmont.
Salas was arrested about 6:47 a.m. after reports of a man breaking out windows at the library, 409 Fourth Avenue.
Officer Jessica Carbajal responded to the reports and was told by a female passerby that a man was running through the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 323 Collyer St wearing a white shirt and blue jeans. That matched an earlier description of the man, according to an arrest affidavit.
Carbajal was able to locate the only male wearing blue jeans and a white shirt in the Our Center parking lot. 220 Collyer St.
Salas told Carbajal that “he does not want to be in Longmont and it is him versus the world,” the affidavit states. He also said he cannot sleep and just did methamphetamines, according to the affidavit.
After Carbajal read Salas his Miranda rights, Salas said “I did not wake up planning on doing that,” the affidavit said.
The affidavit states that 12 windows at the library were shattered causing an estimated $4,800 in damage. Two windows were broken on the northwest corner of the Civic Center causing an estimated $1,600 in damage.
The Longmont Library opened at noon Wednesday. However, the Children's and Teens' area is closed for the day, city spokesman Rigo Leal said via email. Patrons can still access the new collection of Children's, Teens' and Junior Spanish books in the hallway outside of the CATS area, Leal said.
After Salas was arrested, addtional damage was discovered and linked to Salas, Longmon Public Safety spokeswoman Robin Ericson said via email.
Two windows were broken in the 1900 block of Main Street — at McDonalds and at Army and Marine recruiting centers in the same shopping center, Ericson said. The Boulder County Court Annex, 1035 Kimbark St., also has broken windows, she said.
