Acid attacks strike kids in Texas and Maryland Update: another strange coincidence Update: arrests in the MD case

While we were all justifiably focused on events at Virginia Tech, two disturbing stories managed to slip past most of us. But Snapped Shot and Gateway Pundit caught them. The gist: There were two acid attacks on playgrounds over the weekend, one in Maryland and the other in Texas, both of which resulted in injuries to two children. First, the Texas attack.

Police say the acid was poured by someone on purpose onto playground equipment at the park.

The father of Lluvia Castillo is also calling for the perpetrators to be punished to the extent of the law.

Lluvia is blissfully unaware of all that happened to her. She has minor burns on her arm and elsewhere. She came into contact with the acid on the slide.

An arrest may be imminent in that case, which occurred on Saturday.

In Maryland:

Officials are still looking for those responsible for pouring chemicals all over a Middle River playground over the weekend that severely burned a 2-year-old boy.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins Pediatric Hospital performed double skin graft surgery on both of Payton Potochney’s legs. He was listed in good condition on Monday.

Payton was severely burned after going down a slide and landing in a pool of chemicals at a playground on the grounds of the Victory Villa Elementary School in Baltimore County.

There’s a video story at the link. This attack also probably occurred on Saturday:

Investigators said they believe someone broke into a storage closet at the elementary school between 9 p.m. Friday and 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Police said the vandals stole several chemical bottles and poured them over the school playground equipment.

It seems awfully coincidental that two nearly identical attacks using acid poured on playgrounds, happening a couple thousand miles apart on the same day, aren’t related somehow.

Update: This probably isn’t connected, but who knows? The Texas attack took place in Leander, which is northwest of Austin. St. Edwards University, which evacuated its campus today and cancelled all classes after a threatening note was found there, is in Austin, about 29 miles away from Leander.

As far as I can tell, no arrests have been made in the Leander acid attack. As I say, I doubt there’s a connection between the Leander attack and the St. Edwards threat. But anything is possible.

Update: Two arrests in the Maryland case:

Baltimore County police arrested two 16-year-old boys in connection with the chemical burning of a 2-year-old at a playground last Saturday.

Police said both boys live in the Essex area and were arrested Monday evening. They were charged with reckless endangerment and second-degree burglary.

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Investigators said the suspects wanted to kick the door in to a storage building. When they found the bottles of chemical, they poured it on the plastic slide to see if the chemical would burn the plastic. When they saw it did nothing, they left, leaving the chemical sitting on the slide.

Both suspects were released into the custody of their parents.

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