Suspect identified after vandalizing Westfield gas station

On Saturday, a man was captured on a surveillance camera, damaging a digital price sign at a Westfield gas station.
Published: Sep. 27, 2022 at 6:37 PM EDT

WESTFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A Westfield gas station was vandalized over the weekend, causing serious damage. Now, police have identified a suspect.

On Saturday, a man was captured on a surveillance camera, damaging a digital price sign at a Westfield gas station.

On Tuesday, we spoke with the owner of the gas station who said that he has no idea why the man cut the wires to his sign.

On Saturday around 6:45, a man was seen cutting the wires to the digital price sign on top of the Gulf station’s pump on Elm Street in Westfield.

The owner of the station, Vinnie Shah, told Western Mass News that his employees gave the man no reason to be angry before cutting the cord on the sign.

“My guy was very courteous, he didn’t do anything, he didn’t get into an argument with him,” Shah told us. “He was pumping gas and looking around for cameras. He saw the cameras. He still went up to the plug, got some kind of cutter or something, and he cut the wire.”

Shah told us that he had the new digital signs and pumps installed recently, and fortunately, the company was able to make repairs quickly.

“We had to call them right away because of the price variants and customers may complain, so we had to call him right away,” Shah said. “He came from Connecticut and fixed it yesterday.”

Westfield Police told us that the man in the photo has been identified and the case is still under investigation.

Shah gave credit to his camera system. He said that without it, justice would not have been served.

“We have a very good camera system, video surveillance,” Shah said. “We gave it to them right away the minute it happened. We gave them the clips. I think they posted it on their website and that is how they found him.”

Shah said that the damage to his signs did not cost too much to fix, and he is just happy they caught the man who vandalized his property.