Over a year after students spelled a racial slur with letters on their T-shirts at Desert Vista High School, another racist message was seen at the Phoenix high school.
The N-word was spray painted on a wall at Desert Vista, Jennifer Liewer with the Tempe Union High School District confirmed to 12 News.
Now Phoenix police are investigating this disturbing case of vandalism at the school near 32nd Street and Pecos Road and looking for those responsible.
“I saw it on Snapchat,” one student told 12 News anonymously.
Desert Vista students we spoke with are upset with the vandalism, discovered on a bathroom wall near the baseball fields.
“I just feel shameful for them, because I want this school to not be like that school,” the student said.
Police tell 12 News the tagger or taggers struck sometime this past weekend, painting the n-word with two asterisks as G’s. That’s the same way the derogatory word appeared last year, when students then, took a picture spelling out the slur.
“I really want this to stop and I don’t want this to happen again,” one student said.
The district says Desert Vista has worked over the past year and a half toward maintaining a positive and healthy atmosphere. Phoenix police tell 12 News the school thinks a rival school may be playing a “senior prank.”
“It’s a crime against our community,” said Jennifer Liewer, a Tempe Union High School District spokesperson.
She says kids should be focused on the end of the school year, not a racial slur.
“Graduation next week and lots of spirit days going on and we’re not going to let somebody take that joy away from us,” said Liewer.
“We are a really diverse school and we won’t let that one word or anything else affect us,” a student told 12 News.
The case is now in the hands of the Phoenix Police Department’s bias crime unit. So far, police don’t have any suspects. Call Phoenix police or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (948-6377) if you know anything.
