The incident took place at Kirkwood Soccer Club on route 9 on Saturday.
Surveillance video shows four suspects entering the field. They were later chased by a janitor after they were found hanging around the club's truck. Later that night, a flash of light is seen in the video; the light is the headlight of a truck used to turf the field causing about $10,000 in damage.
"If that wasn't enough, after putting the truck back where they found it…they went as far as to damage all different areas of the truck," Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh of the Delaware State Police said.
The nonprofit Kirkwood Soccer Club is home to several fields and every one is reserved for upcoming events. The damage is costly and creates a scheduling problem.
"Out of the next six weeks, we have four of our larger events coming in and we need all of our fields; it's an important revenue stream for Kirkwood. Our tournaments and things underwrite the costs of the rest of our programs for our members," Joe Mills of the Kirkwood Soccer Club said.
"This is an example of how young people with nothing better to do or at least no moral compass for the time being that an incident's taking place causes damage in the tune of thousands of dollars," Whitmarsh said.
The vandalism is discouraging to those who use the fields.
"I think it's tragic that someone would come and destroy our field," a young soccer player said.
Police would like the public to take a look at the surveillance video. If you can identify the suspects call crime stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333.
