Dozens of rounds fired into Marysville school in 'horrible' vandalism during holiday break

MARYSVILLE, Wash. -- The New Year got off to rough start for one Marysville school.

During the holiday break, someone vandalized Pinewood Elementary School using a gun.

The shooter fired bullets into the school, causing significant damage.

Students returned to school on Wednesday from Christmas break and many students probably didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. That’s because maintenance workers had cleaned up much of the damage and patched up the bullet holes.

Marysville police say 26 windows were shattered, including the library window that had eight bullets holes.

Detectives are not disclosing exactly how many rounds were fired but it’s evident there were dozens of shots.

“I’m actually pretty angry about how much damage this person caused or persons,” parent Mike Thom said.

Thom says his two sons who go to Pinewood Elementary are too young to process what happened.

“They don’t know why there is a hole in the wall; they don’t need to know,” Thom said.

A letter from the school told parents that the incident caused extensive damage.

The school said six buildings on campus were impacted.

The interior of the buildings as well as exterior lights were also damaged.

Detectives are studying the trajectory of the gunshots for clues.

“No chairs were hit, no desks were hit, the trajectory seems to be kind of in an upward angle through the window and up into the walls,” Commander Mark Thomas with Marysville Police said.

That is one reason why detectives believe the vandalism is an isolated incident, with no one at the school specifically targeted. Thomas says the suspect could have fired the rounds on New Year’s Eve during the fireworks.

“We have not seen where active shooters have done a high-profile rehearsal like that,” Thomas said.

Thom still feels safe sending his sons to school.

“During school hours I have full confidence in the staff at Pinewood,” Thom said.

He’s just frustrated at what it will cost the district.

“The school district that is strapped for funds already has to now repair what would have lasted tens of years,” Thom said.

The Marysville School District says they do not have an exact cost of the damages.

There is a security camera on campus but police say it did not capture the suspect.

The district says they are now planning on adding more surveillance cameras on school grounds.

But they did not have a timeline of when those cameras would be added.

Police say in a case like this sometimes people will brag or talk about the crime so if you know anything call Marysville Police.

There is also a cash reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. Call Crime Stoppers at 1-(800) 222-TIPS.