Inquirer receives restitution for broken glass front door

A 24-year-old male has made $800 cash restitution to the Gonzales Inquirer after throwing a bench through the newspaper office’s front door in the late hours of Thursday, July 18 or early hours of Friday, July 19.

In return, the Inquirer declined to press any other charges against Tysen Shemar Mitchell of Arizona after receiving an apology from him for his actions and payment for damages done.

At about 7:56 a.m. Friday, Gonzales Police Sgt. Leo Mendez responded to the Inquirer office, 622 Saint Paul St., regarding a case of criminal mischief. Mendez was informed that an unknown individual had thrown a bench from a neighboring business through the door, breaking the glass and causing $798.89 in damages (based on the estimate to replace the glass pane).

During the investigation, Sgt. Mendez obtained surveillance from surrounding businesses and discovered that a person of interest had been at a local bar and grill. When Sgt. Mendez spoke with employees at the establishment, they advised him the subject was possibly in town from Arizona.

After retrieving surveillance footage of both the individual and the vehicle his party had driven, Lt. Jason Montoya observed the male subject exiting a local restaurant and was able to make contact and identify him. A voluntary confession statement was obtained from Mitchell as well as a statement from an eyewitness who observed the incident.

“Thank you to the Gonzales Police Department for their quick work in helping resolve this issue,” Publisher Lew K. Cohn said. “They responded with the utmost professionalism and we appreciate the way this was handled by Sgt. Mendez and Lt. Montoya.

“We chose not to press charges because we saw this as a learning opportunity — to have the responsible party come apologize, explain what happened and make restitution, rather than having us seek retribution or punitive action. We hold no ill will towards Tysen or his family and hope that with experience comes wisdom, maturity and growth.”