An incident that authorities are describing as a “senior prank gone wrong” resulted in significant damage at Santa Barbara High School on Monday night, according to the Santa Barbara Police Department.
At about 10:30 p.m., police dispatchers received several reports of loud, unusual noises and breaking glass coming from the high school campus, Sgt. Ethan Ragsdale said.
“When officers arrived on scene, approximately 50 to 60 high school-aged individuals fled the high school’s main building and ran towards East Canon Perdido Street,” Ragsdale said.
Officers were able to detain 16 individuals and determined they were Santa Barbara High School students.
“It appears upon further investigation a large number of students were attempting to perform a ‘senior prank’ that involved gallons of baby oil, Vaseline, raw fish, and oysters being placed all over the floors and door handles,” Ragsdale said. “Toilet paper and streamers were strewn in trees on the exterior of the school property.
“It was also discovered there were numerous items of vandalized property inside the school, to include broken windows and items spraypainted.”
The school principal was notified and responded to the scene.
Officers on Tuesday were still trying to determine how the students accessed the interior of the building, Ragsdale said.
The total amount of damage and the cleanup costs had not been determined as of Tuesday evening, he added.
Ragsdale did not say whether any of the perpetrators were arrested or cited.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.