Police are offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of the Michigan State University students responsible for creating a number of gigantic fires in celebration of the football team’s victory over Ohio State University last weekend.
MSU’s win guaranteed the university its first trip to the Rose Bowl since 1988. In response, overjoyed students took to the streets, gathering old couches and mattresses and burning them in large, hazardous bonfires. Shrubs were also torn apart to sustain the fires, according to The Detroit Free Press.
When campus police interrupted the celebratory conflagration, students responded by pelting them with rocks, horseshoes and frozen beer cans. A dozen students were arrested. (RELATED: Watch Michigan State riot because they’re going to the Rose Bowl [VIDEO])
But the police–who know that more students were involved–are offering $20,000 in exchange for information on the other perpetrators.
Apart from criminal charges, the university will issue its own punishments, a university spokesperson told The Daily Caller.
“Any student identified as taking part in setting or fueling fires will be subject to the MSU student judicial process, regardless of any criminal charges being filed,” said Kent Cassella, a university spokesperson, in an email. “If a student is found in violation, he or she faces sanctions ranging from warning to dismissal.”
Cassella recognized that most students celebrated MSU’s win in a responsible manner. But those who set the fires “disregarded the safety of others and destroyed property.”
The reward is being offered by both the East Lansing Police Department and campus police.