HOUGHTON – A city resident is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the identification of the person or people responsible for the recent vandalism at Veterans Park in Houghton.

“When we investigate something like a larceny, we always have evidence, like we can find what gets stolen,” said Police Chief John Donnelly. “When it’s just somebody doing a random act of destruction, we don’t have (evidence).”

Last week, someone knocked over the Purple Heart Memorial at Veterans Park. They also damaged a plaque for service people killed during World War II.

Donnelly said there was a trail of broken stop signs in west Houghton that could be related to the incident. While people showed up in camera footage of the incidents, they weren’t identifiable enough to release pictures to the public, he said.

Most likely, it wasn’t hardened criminals, Donnelly said, but people not realizing the significance of the location.

“I know a lot of times if you stop down there in Veterans Park, and you talk to kids that are littering and give them a five-minute educational program, they swing around and say, ‘There’s a point here. We’ll be more respectful,'” he said.