Advertisement Paintball park defaced by vandals, owners offer reward for information Damage estimated in thousands Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Owners of Merrimack Valley Paintball in Candia are cleaning up and police are investigating after vandals targeted the business Saturday night.Equipment at the park was sliced open, torn up, and written on and replacing it all could cost thousands of dollars.Assistant Manager Brenten Cupp discovered the damage Sunday morning, hours before a scheduled tournament."They cut our bunkers, they sliced up our net, they wrote profanities all over our field," Cupp said.But despite the setback, Cupp said they still held the tournament after patching the safety netting and bringing out old equipment. "We are resilient people. We are going to come back from this, we are going to rebuild," he said.Cupp said vandals broke into the park overnight sometime between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m.He believes the damage was premeditated, "We have security cameras looking 360 degrees and the areas they hit were specific blind spots so they have been here multiple times," Cupp said.Candia police are investigating."They would be charged with a felony level, criminal mischief," officer Dan Gray explained. "The damage that has been done at a conservative estimate is about $5,000 and because of the dollar value that would upgrade it to a felony."Cupp is taking the crime the personally. "This is our home, this my family and they came into my home and destroyed my property," he said.He said the park is home to a benefit team that plays for fallen firefighters and police officers and can't believe someone would do this, "We are going to find out who these people are," he said. "We are personally offering a reward for any information that could lead to an arrest."Candia police are asking for the public's help to generate any leads.