Kids Believed Responsible for Tearing Satellite Dish off Copeland Center

Four children were taken into police custody and questioned Saturday on their involvement with a possible attempted break-in at the .

Witnesses spotted at least one child on the roof of the building near Fourth and Mulberry streets shortly after 6 p.m.

While up there, the child removed a satellite dish and tossed it off the side of the building, causing it to smash on the pavement below,

“When our officers arrived, they caught four out of the five kids,” Grant said. “The four that we got denied any involvement. We even brought them in ... but they were not willing to talk.”

A witness was unable to positively identify any of the children as the one he saw on the roof. Without that, Grant said, officers didn’t have enough to charge any of the four, who were later released to their parents.

“We’re not sure if the kids were trying to steal or just do damage,” Grant said. “To break in, there’s not a whole lot they can steal.”

The Copeland Center houses the city’s senior citizens programs and also is rented out by many organizations for meetings and other functions.

Interim Superintendent of Recreation Timothy Beaker said the destruction of the satellite dish isn’t affecting any of the building’s operations.

“As far as we can tell, it was for an old system that is not in use anymore,” he said.