More reports of vandalism of eastern Ontario headstones have come in, this time from Belleville police.
Police say nearly more than 450 headstones were spray painted at two Belleville cemeteries on Nov. 3 and 4.
Police say about 200 graves were targeted at St. James cemetery in the city’s west end, and 255 were spray painted at Elmwood cemetery on River Road.
“At this point in time we don’t have any suspects, unfortunately,” says Staff Sgt. Mike Kiley of the Belleville Police.
“We’re gathering whatever evidence might be available to us to try to locate who might be responsible.”
At St. James cemetery, the vandalism took place some time between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
“For somebody to do this to a stone or a marker, it shows lack of respect for the dead, the deceased members and also lack of respect for the living,” says Richard Beare, St. James Cemetery Secretary and Treasurer.
Get breaking National news
“This is very upsetting.”
Beare isn’t the only one upset at this recent spate of vandalism.
Many people were asking why something like this is happening.
“They will get caught, these people always trip themselves up,” says Peter Ross.
“They’re not as smart as they think they are.”
Ross has a personal connection to this crime — two stones belonging to his relatives were defaced.
“I resent someone attacking my family,” he says.
“I don’t like it, there’s no need for it, there’s no call for it. None of these people ever did anything to anybody, they were good people.”
This is the third time eastern Ontario cemeteries have been targeted in the same way over the last two weeks.
About 150 headstones were spray painted at various cemeteries Quinte West last week, followed by about 175 at the Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston just days later.
“We can see some similarities obviously between what’s happened in Kingston as well as Quinte West,” says St/Sgt. Kiley.
“I think it would be early to speculate whether it’s the same individuals that are responsible, but I think you can definitely say that there are similarities between the different events that have been occurring in the different cities for sure.”
Neither OPP, Kington police nor Belleville police have indicated that the incidents are related.
Comments