Miami

Police Search for Teens Accused of Vandalizing Middle School in Hialeah

Police are working to identify a group of teens captured on surveillance cameras breaking into Henry H. Filer Middle School in Hialeah and vandalizing the main office and hallway with a fire extinguisher.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools said the group used a ladder to enter the school last month through a window that had been temporarily boarded up during summer renovations.

Security cameras captured the group, believed to be high school students, spraying a fire extinguisher inside the school and recording the vandalism on their phones.

"These are taxpayer dollars," Principal Emirce Guerra said. "So, it's kind of sad to see students not appreciate what the community is able to do for them and now it means the budget is going to take a hit somewhere." 

MDCPS said the teens caused nearly $10,000 in damage to computers, phones and the school's PA system.

Miami-Dade Schools Police Sgt. Delontay Dumas said they also could have caused themselves harm with the chemical agent inside the fire extinguisher. 

"They think it's something comical and hysterical when it isn't," Guerra said. "And we need to express to kids that this is something that is unacceptable and there should be consequences for such behavior." 

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