Police and store owners have been left frustrated by a rash of vandalism that impacted Turners Falls and Gill earlier this month.
Relaying the issue to the Montague Selectboard, Montague Police Chief Christopher Williams and Lt. Chris Bonnett said the vandalism — a signature tagging of store windows — is extremely similar to the vandalism that occurred in the same area on March 1, 2020. By checking the security cameras, police were able to find footage of the perpetrator, but the individual’s all-black attire and lack of distinguishing features have made the investigation exceedingly difficult.
Williams said the security footage shows that “graffiti etching” started at 2:40 a.m. on Sept. 1 at The Mill in Gill. The vandal then made their way to Turners Falls, tagging buildings down Avenue A “all the way down to Food City.”
Bonnett said the tagging, which takes “under 10 seconds” to complete, has cost local stores around $1,000 in damage. For some small business owners, any added expense can be devastating.
“The more property is destroyed, the higher the cost is for staying open for everyone,” said Buckingham Rabbits Vintage owner Alex McGuigan, whose store was also recently ravaged by severe flooding. “It’s already really hard to keep the doors open.”
The middle-of-the-night occurrence of this vandalism matches what was seen in March 2020 when the tagger began vandalizing property at around 3 a.m., police said. They don’t believe this instance is gang related.
“We believe it’s an individual not associated with a gang or anything like that,” Williams said.
Some locals say that while the town has grown accustomed to similar crimes over the years, the frequency of such incidents should not be an excuse.
“Yes, this is Turners Falls, but what does that mean?” LOOT owner John McNamara said in a discussion with the Selectboard and police. “Should these things happen?”
“It certainly does not reflect what we expect in our community,” Montague Selectboard Chair Rich Kuklewicz said.
McGuigan cited a disconnect between residents and small businesses as a reason why vandals might consider destroying property.
“I think that knowing the community, knowing the people and talking to people is the best thing to do,” McGuigan said. “I don’t think having cameras everywhere is the answer.”
Furthermore, police noted at the Selectboard meeting that while they’ve captured an “abundance of evidence” on camera, the film quality isn’t sharp enough to identify the suspect, especially due to their all-black clothing and lack of distinguishable characteristics.
“Footage has been seen, but there’s no identifiable features on the person,” Williams said. “We’re limited. We work with what we have.”
“A bunch of evidence turns into nothing to go on,” Bonnett added.
Williams said he’s unsure about a potential reward for a tip that leads to an arrest, but said some in the community offered to contribute to a pool of money for a reward. He added that police also plan to continue researching the meaning of the tag.
Otherwise, aside from considering the implementation of more cameras, Williams said there’s not much that police can do to help.
“I don’t really know what more we can do,” he said, “other than review all the footage and have our detectives talk to their (confidential informants) to see if they have any information.”
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.