Band Instruments Retrieved, Suspects Arrested

Two weeks after the Monday morning Armijo band staff discovered that instruments and equipment valued at thousands of dollars were stolen over the weekend of April 9, students of the Armijo Superband remain undeterred.

With the Spring marching season beginning this week, many students remain unfazed by the incident, “This robbery was only a scratch against the Armijo Superband. They can steal our instruments, but not our passion,” said sophomore Arianna Mestas.

According to the Fairfield Police Department, the crime was first reported to the Armijo High School Resource Officer, who began the investigation with the aid of the Fairfield Police Department’s Investigations Bureau. The stolen property consisted of dozens of woodwind and brass instruments which were a combination of school property and personal instruments.

On Thursday, April 13, several individuals were arrested in connection with the theft and four instruments were returned to students and the school, with others still in processing by the Fairfield PD. However, many Armijo students continue to rely on backup instruments provided by the district as they anxiously await for more news and file insurance claims.

Across the Armijo campus, many students voiced their unrest of the situation. “I felt disgusted when I first heard about it,” said band member Ramil Chettfour, “to think that anyone would like to harm a program that brings so much happiness to Armijo musicians.”

“I just want to know the motive for doing something like that,” said Trinity Davidson, “it’s just terrible.”

In response to the incident, community members reached out to support the Armijo Superband. Armijo and FSUSD administration worked quickly to aid band students. In an interview with CBS 13, Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District spokeswoman Sheila McCabe said, “We are doing anything and everything we can to ensure we get the instruments back in our student’s hands.”

Campus clubs such as the Armijo Key Club reached out to assist by supplying volunteers for the upcoming band fundraising car wash. “I’m glad that we had the support from the community. Without the support, we never would’ve come up with solutions to work around this,” said assistant drum major Maianh Le.

Armijo band members look forward to performing at Washington, DC for the July 4th parade this upcoming summer undaunted by the missing instruments. To continue funding the band, the Armijo band boosters have planned for a car wash fundraiser on Saturday, May 6, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm at the Grocery Outlet parking lot at 200 Travis Blvd in Fairfield. Those interested can purchase tickets from band students and visit www.armijobandboosters.org for more information.

“We have a long ways to go,” said Tang, “but I have no doubt in the power of this band.”