Three suspects sought in fire at North Elementary

MOSES LAKE — Law enforcement officers are looking for three boys who set fire to a playground toy at North Elementary late Thursday afternoon. The incident was recorded by the school’s security cameras.

The school district has released a picture of the suspects from the video and district officials are working with the Grant County Sheriff’s Office to identify them.

District superintendent Michelle Price said the three boys burned a playground slide. The video shows the boys walking around the campus and out the playground. Two of the boys set a fire under the slide and walked away. A lone boy returned a few minutes later and added dry weeds to the fire, setting the slide aflame.

The boys “walked off and watched it burn,” Price said.

Firefighters from Grant County Fire District No. 5 responded to the scene and put out the fire, but not before the equipment was destroyed.

Price said the playground equipment was insured, and district officials are working with the district’s insurance company to replace the equipment as soon as possible.

“Very unfortunate,” Price said, since the playground equipment is used by children in the North Elementary neighborhood and basically belongs to the kids at North.