Porters Chapel Academy Headmaster Doug Branning began cleaning up splinters of wood and shards of broken glass from his office floor Friday morning, shortly after filing a police report on the latest vandalism incident at the K-12 private school on Porters Chapel Road.

“I truly believe they’re going to catch these people, and those from the last time,” said Branning as he pointed out the half-dozen administrative offices damaged in the attack that forced the school to cancel classes for its 200 students Friday. “We’ll get everything put back in order as the day goes on, and start to find out if anything is missing.”

To help

A reward is being offered for information about the vandalism. Contact Vicksburg Police Investigator Brad Derrington at 601-218-7560 or bradd@vicksburg.org.

It appeared just a medical bag with syringes and insulin was missing from the school. Office doors and windows were broken in administrative offices, but no computers or other items appeared to be taken or damaged.

“This was not a theft-orientated incident. It was somebody who definitely had a personal issue with the school,” said Vicksburg Police Investigator Brad Derrington. The vandalism was discovered by a janitor early Friday morning, said Branning, and surveillance images captured of the two suspects indicate the break-in and vandalism occurred sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. Students were turned around in the parking lot as they arrived for school Friday morning, and are expected to return to class Monday.

“Two white males were in the school with baseball bats, and they went through the school from office to office busting doors, flipping over desks and scattering papers,” said Derrington, who estimated the damage at $2,000 to $3,000. “They appeared to be high school-aged kids. Porters Chapel has looked at the pictures and cannot identify either one as current students.”

No classrooms were vandalized in Friday’s incident, nor was the school library. Derrington said police were speaking with “persons of interest” and following up leads, but had made no arrests as of Friday afternoon. A reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.

In November, windows and doors at PCA were broken in a similar break in, however, Derrington said it is unclear if the two incidents are related. No arrests were made in the break in last fall, which occurred around 12:30 on a weekday afternoon.

“The damage this time is much worse,” said Branning. “My first instinct is they came in here looking for cash and didn’t find any, so they started smashing everything — but I can’t read a criminal mind. If they are looking for cash, they can stop breaking into our school because we don’t keep any here.”

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com