Vandals left a mile-long trail of damage as they threw bricks and stones through windows of several businesses in Hartford overnight, including at the historic Mark Twain House.
Police said at least nine businesses in the area of Farmington Avenue, between Flower and South Whitney streets, were damaged at some point between last night and this morning.
A window at the Mark Twain House, a popular cultural attraction, was hit by a brick that shattered the outside pane of a window, which shocked staff members who have not experienced problems like this in the past.
"People around here respect this place. You know, it's like an oasis in Hartford, so we usually don't have this kind of problem," Will Perez, of the Mark Twain House, said.
The famed writer Samuel L. Clemens designed the home in the late 1870s and wrote that the happiest and most productive years of his life were spent in that home.
Police released a preliminary list of the damage:
- Ahern Funeral Home, 180 Farmington Ave.: shattered window
- Mo's Midtown restaurant, 25 Whitney Street: shattered window
- Macdermid, Reynolds & Glissman Law Offices, 86 Farmington Ave.: broken front window
- Webster Bank, 108 Farmington Ave.: west window shattered
- Medical center, 449 Farmington Ave.: north window cracked
- Family Dollar, 170 Farmington Ave.: cracked window
- Island Cuisine, 300 Farmington Ave.: broken window
- Unoccupied space, at 256 Farmington Ave., door glass cracked.
Business owners were also in shock when they arrived this morning and found the damage. Now police are investigating and checking surveillance video.
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They said they are looking for a 6-foot-tall, 170-pound bald man with a white beard. He was wearing a dark hoodie, a white undershirt, jeans and white sneakers.
"We hope that something pops up on video at this point. There's a lot of businesses here that have external surveillance video," Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said. "We hope somebody saw something and is going to report it to us."
If you know anything about the vandalism, call police.
