Screws attached to slides in Memorial Park in Oak Lawn

OAK LAWN, Ill. (WLS) -- Police in Oak Lawn say someone attached 10 screws to two slides in a local park in a deliberate attempt to hurt children. No one was injured, but the screws could cut or rip the skin of a child playing on the slide.

"There were eight screws in one slide, two in the other slide. They screwed them into the bottom of the slide and snapped off the heads so there was a protrusion of metal," said Joel Craig, Oak Lawn Park District.

Park officials took out the screws immediately, so the holes are all that's left behind at Memorial Park. Each screw was placed at the bottom of a slide, and officials are certain it was intentional.

"Staff pounded out the screws with a hole punch and sanded down the surface, but it was very evident it was a deliberate act to cause harm," said Craig.

Oak Lawn police stepped up patrols in the park Wednesday. The thought that someone did this on purpose rattles parents.

"It's out of the ordinary but it's a safe park, we come here often, three times a week almost. I haven't seen anything like this before. I'm shocked, actually," said Mohamed Homsi, father.

The park district says it is checking the equipment every day.

It isn't the first case of playground tampering in Illinois. In March, 2-year-old Madden Jenks was on his Dad's shoulders when he reached for the monkey bars in East Moline. More than a dozen razor blades had been glued to the playground equipment and one of them cut the boy's finger. East Moline police say that case is still unsolved.