BELLMEAD, Texas (KXXV) — Police are searching for vandals who caused thousands of dollars in damage to newly renovated bathrooms at Brame Park. Both bathrooms will remain closed until further notice.
Watch the full story here:
The vandals spray-painted multiple surfaces inside the restrooms over the weekend, including newly installed ADA-compliant stall partitions that were added just last month.
"We have a lot of folks that use that park," Police Chief Myatt said. "It's not fair to our citizens. It's not fair to staff, the money that has been expended to improve the qualities of these facilities, it's just so disrespectful."
The city manager told 25 News the damaged facilities are part of a larger effort to improve the park through a $300,000 Texas Parks and Wildlife grant.
"It is very disappointing and disheartening," Yost Zakhary, the city manager said. "Yet to have somebody literally within a week to 2 weeks of the brand new remodel to go in there and deface it. Total disrespect."
The people responsible caused $4,000 in damage to the restrooms, which will remain closed until repairs can be made.
City officials say this is not an isolated issue.
"There's a lot of different incidents that have gone on throughout the weeks that range from just leaving trash, throwing trash around, dumping trash, overfilling trash, just very disrespectful, uh, disregard for our parks," the city manager said.
Officials are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the restroom vandalism.
"Do yourself a favor, hold yourself accountable, and come down to the police department. Turn yourself in, tell us basically why you did what you did," Chief Myatt said.
Police say there are currently no suspects, but the vandals could be charged with a state jail felony because of the extent of damage to the bathroom.
"Offering a reward, I believe sends the message of how important the city's stance is on this, that they want the individuals or person who did this to be held accountable for their actions. At this time it is a fluid investigation we're still working on it," Chief Myatt said.
If you have any information, please contact Detective Harker at (254) 799-0251 and reference Case #25-0076.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
