More Razor Blades Found at Playground

Authorities across Orange County went on heightened alert Thursday, scouring hundreds of playgrounds with metal detectors after sheriff’s deputies uncovered more than 50 razor blades and nails hidden around a Laguna Niguel park, the fourth city to be hit in the last year.

Detectives believe there is a link between the razors discovered at the Laguna Niguel park and those found Sunday at the playground of Main Beach in Laguna Beach.

In response, Sheriff Michael S. Carona ordered deputies and rangers to sweep 250 South County parks for signs of more sharp objects. No one has been injured, but the incidents have parents and children in the surrounding areas on edge.

“This is an act of domestic terrorism,” Laguna Beach Police Capt. Danell Adams said. “It makes people retract, refrain and get enclosed in their homes. It’s a sick mind.”

The discovery has had just that effect on residents near the small Laguna Niguel neighborhood playground that was roped off Thursday with police tape.

“We’re afraid to take the kids to the park now,” said Mina Kuwahara, 66, as she picked up her three grandchildren at a bus stop a few blocks away. “It is just horrible.”

The first wave of razor findings occurred a year ago at six parks in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.

Police set up elaborate undercover surveillance operations at several parks, with officers instructed to get out of their cars and check the playgrounds every hour. They also used bloodhounds to trace the scent of the blades. But the efforts failed to catch any suspects.

When the discoveries stopped by the end of last May, police still had no idea whether they were the work of adults or children.

Then razors began appearing again last weekend.

It started at 4 a.m. Sunday, when Laguna Beach police received an anonymous call from a young woman warning that some friends--eight males and possibly a female--were going to do something at Main Beach to hurt people.

Officers searched the beach but found nothing unusual at the time.

Four hours later, a resident at Laguna Beach’s Main Beach playground noticed razor blades on the ground of the tot lot. He then turned up 17 razor blades partially buried in the sand there.

Police closed the park temporarily to scan the sand with a metal detector and turned up one more blade.

“The razors had been strategically placed,” Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Jason Kravetz said. “There’s a chance that we could definitely solve this case with [the help of] the person who originally called us. But the frustration is that she has failed to contact us again. She seems to be the key.”

As Laguna Beach police waited for the woman to call, Joe Kiani brought his 18-month-old daughter Kayla to the small “view park” in the Marina Hills community in Laguna Niguel at 6:30 a.m. Thursday, a daily ritual for the two.

The park sits atop a hill with a sweeping canyon view in a quiet community of large tile-roofed houses and townhomes. It is so far out of the way, residents say, that nobody uses the place except children who live in the 1,500-home development.

While Kayla played in the wood chips on the ground of the park, her dad noticed something shiny sticking up from the ground.

“I quickly took her away and started picking up razors,” he said. “There were about a dozen.

“I called my wife and told her to call the police,” Kiani said. “I have no idea what these people were thinking. Whoever did this doesn’t have any children.”

The razors Kiani spotted are the same type that surfaced in Laguna Beach, a common brand that can be purchased at hardware stores.

Investigators say both of this week’s incidents followed a similar pattern to last year’s, although they are not sure if the same person is responsible in all four cities.

In all cases, razor blades were placed in similar areas of the playground: at the end of slides, on the stairway up to the slide and play area, and at the bottom of the slides.

“We’re taking this very seriously,” said George Jaramillo, assistant county sheriff. “It’s a sick thing to do and a stupid thing to do.”

He urged parents to remain vigilant and supervise their children at parks while deputies patrol and continue to scour the parks daily with metal detectors, but he cautioned against overreacting.

“It is worthy of a response to check things out and let people know it’s happening,” Jaramillo said. “Anything beyond that creates hysteria that just feeds into what some sick individual wants to create.”

But some parents remain unconvinced and said they intend to bring their children only to parks where there is a security patrol, like Laguna Niguel Regional Park, which costs $2 to enter.

Kids say they are nervous too.

“I don’t want to go to the park now,” said Mackenzie Andelin, 10, who had been a frequent visitor to the Laguna Niguel playground where the nails and razors surfaced Thursday.

“My family used to go there every Sunday,” she said. “This is not fair to the kids.”

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Times staff writer H.G. Reza contributed to this report.