Last night at approximately 1 AM, two females vandalize the globe fountain at the newly dedicated Pocket Park next to Oxford Oxford City Hall. They were with a larger group of individuals damages are going to be inexcess of $5000, which is a felony. pic.twitter.com/zssOivvUd4
— Oxford Police Dept (@OxfordPolice) October 24, 2023
The Oxford Police Department say they have identified two women who are seen in a surveillance video vandalizing a sculpture at the new pocket park on The Square.
As of Tuesday evening, Oxford police had not announced the arrests, but earlier in the day announced they had identified the suspects, thanks in part to tips from the public who had seen the surveillance footage and screenshots of the two females.
Police say the two females were part of a larger group walking near the park about 1 am Tuesday. In the video, the two women can be seen going over to the park’s water feature, which includes a spherical sculpture in the center. They push the sphere off its pedestal and roll it down a concrete walking path. Two males are also seen standing nearby as the women scurry away.
Oxford police say the sphere was a custom-made piece of artwork and is now cracked, and the plumbing attached to it was “destroyed,” with the total damages expected to exceed $5,000. Mississippi law states that if the value of property “destroyed, disfigured or injured” exceeds $1,000, it’s considered a felony.
The park had just been dedicated by Oxford officials last Friday. The park was built at a cost of $600,000, funded in part by a $250,000 grant from the state, and $50,000 from T-Mobile. The City of Oxford covered the remainder of the cost.
