Graffiti was discovered Wednesday morning at Camarena Elementary School in San Diego's South Bay for the third time in a week, police said.
The campus was vandalized Saturday night and again overnight into Monday, according to a state district spokesperson. The Chula Vista Police Department confirmed a third instance of vandalism happened overnight into Wednesday.
The most recent graffiti has the same style as before, the department said. Investigators say they still have no leads or suspect information.
CVPD said earlier this week that it is investigating a possible hate crime after the disturbing graffiti was found scrawled across the walls.
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On Saturday, the campus was tagged with blue and black spray paint in more than 15 different places, including walls, doors, windows, signs and even a mural in a gated portion of campus. The graffiti consisted of racial slurs (toward more than one race), swastikas, plus other concerning words and symbols, CVPD Sgt. Anthony Molina told NBC 7. The graffiti was first discovered just before 8 a.m. on Sunday.
Around 11 p.m. Sunday night, a custodian was on campus cleaning the graffiti and noticed someone on campus. The custodian called police, but officers did not find anyone, according to Molina.
A local news team arrived at Camarena Elementary around 5 a.m. Monday to report on Saturday night's graffiti only to find new graffiti near the front of the campus, Molina said. The graffiti had similar messaging and was painted in red, white and silver. Police told NBC 7 that graffiti would have occurred between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
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In some cases, the messages were written over where parents had spent hours cleaning up the first mess on Sunday afternoon.
CVPD said because of the language written in the graffiti, police were investigating at least the first two vandalism incidents as felony hate crimes with thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Police told NBC 7 they have been at campus since early Monday morning working closely with school staff and communicating with parents to ensure campus safety.
It was not just the graffiti but the language that is concerning parents. Jason Anderson has two children who are students at Camarena Elementary.
“They will be here somewhere around 7:30 a.m. when breakfast opens up, and we just don’t want them to come in and see this stuff,” Anderson said. “Some of the derogatory things that were written and everything, we wanted to make sure that got taken off real quick."
The district said earlier this week they do not condone these kinds of acts and they would work diligently to clean the school before students return to campus.
The school posted on its website it could cost them thousands of dollars in damages.
Christa Alston also has a child that attends Camarena Elementary.
“These are words that no child, especially an elementary child should be using or saying, some of them appear to be racially motivated and that’s not acceptable in this community,” Alston said. “I just wanted to make sure if they needed another extra hand to come and help as a community, that we’re here to support all of us because they’re kids.”
Alston said it’s not surprising to see a community working as a team to clean up the vandalism because they all care about the students.
“I want it to be a safe place, and I think that’s what we all want, and while this didn’t necessarily impact their physical safety, it definitely could have impacted their mental and emotional well-being and kind of their innocence,” Alston said.
The spokesperson with the district said earlier this week the safety of their students is their highest priority and there is no threat to the school.
If you have any information, contact the Chula Vista Police Department, San Diego County Crime Stoppers and 888-580-8477 or you can submit tips anonymously online or through the P3tips mobile application.
