Gold paint used by vandals to deliver message. Kingsville police have apprehended a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old boy in connection with vandalism at the Kleberg County Courthouse, several vehicles and other county buildings, businesses and Kingsville’s City Hall early Tuesday morning.

“The county court house, the probation office, a couple of businesses downtown and city hall were all vandalized overnight,” Kingsville Police Department Detective Sergeant Bradley Lile said on Tuesday.

“There was a lot of gang type of graffiti all over the courthouse and the probation office.”

Vandals sprayed expressions which included ‘F**K da Police’, ‘59’, ‘Blood Love’ and the initials ‘CK’ which are believed to mean cop killer.

Arrested were 17-year old Manuel Madrazo and a 15-year old male accomplice whose name is being withheld. Both have been charged with criminal mischief of over $1,500, graffiti of over $1,500 and retaliation, Lile said.

Manuel Madrazo The duo was caught by the police while walking near the probation office at around 8 a.m. and later taken to the Kleberg County jail.

“We do have him (Madrazo) in our facility and there are three charges on him,” Sheriff Ed Mata said of the elder suspect.

The sheriff mentioned that Madrazo has previous history of criminal activity.

“I saw (the graffiti) on the south side of the county courthouse, the south side of the juvenile and probation department and the two SUV vehicles belonging to community supervision,” Mata said. “It is very important that we understand the reasoning behind the actions of this young individual who is 17 years old. What kind of problems he has and what kind of counseling he has been receiving as far as trying to reform him because apparently he has a history of being in jail.”

Vandals defaced courthouse with foul language, painted gang symbols Mata said the community needs to remain vigilant with youths who may be growing up with antagonistic tendencies.

“I am not here to judge but we have to be prepared especially when young individuals are growing up with anger and hatred,” Mata said. “We cannot drop our guard because we do not know what to expect now that they are making statements like that especially out in public.”

District Attorney John Hubert was also taken aback by the graffiti.

“It upsets me because it was not done by high schooltin ers out there having pride in their school and just exhibiting it in the wrong way,” Hubert said.

“It looked like to me that the people who did this did so as a personal attack on the people in the probation office and the court system, the very organizations that are set up to help people get past difficult times,” he said.

“These people are out there basically attacking them in a way that costs tax payers more money. If you do not like probation, put an article in the paper about it or a letter to the editor, that is how democracy works,” Hubert said.

County Judge Pete de la Garza said the taggers even hit Flores Park.

“My reaction was total shock and anger and at the same time I am looking at dollar signs to see how much it is going to cost to clean all of this up in case these birds don’t pay for it,” De la Garza said.

“We have not assessed the full cost and all I know is that just to clean up Flores Park it is going to cost over $3,000.

“We need to assess the damage at the probation building, the courthouse and the cars which will be a sizable amount and I am going to guess that it will all end up costing close to $10,000,” the judge said.

That ten grand is a tab county taxpayers will most likely have to pick up.

“That is why I am so upset because a lot of times when these people get convicted, they are asked to pay restitution and sometimes they don’t,” De la Garza said.

“So they get revoked and they pay it off by staying in jail which means the county is the one who has to foot the bill,” the judge said.

“The good news is that the probation department has cameras and these guys were caught on camera and they are now in custody,” he said.