Work at the new $2 billion stadium suspended as company in charge of project works with police to find out ‘whodunnit’
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — “It’s unfortunate, but we’ve got some childish people here,” said a union laborer as he trudged from the job site at the new Highmark Stadium which will serve as the home of the Buffalo Bills starting next season.
Construction was halted following the discovery of graffiti and other forms of vandalism at multiple places at the construction site according to a representative of  Gilbane Building Company and Turner Construction Company which are working to build the stadium.
Now those firms are working with police to find who was responsible.
Work not stopped completely
Though it was less busy than has been customary at the stadium site, there were workers on site and noise could be heard coming from inside the new stadium on Tuesday.
Gilbane Turner did not say how long it might be before work might resume in full but said in a statement to 2 On Your Side it expects that despite the setback the stadium will be finished this summer.
According to a source there had been several incidents of vandalism and graffiti discovered in in recent days which caused significant damage to already finished portions of the stadium, including locker rooms and suite areas, that will now have to be done over.
“They have to rip it apart and re-do some of these areas and this is not just one occurrence. It has unfortunately happened multiple times,” said  Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz who described the graffiti  as “pornographic” and also spoke about why they think it was an inside job.
The stadium site is secured by perimeter fencing and security guards stationed at entrance gates.
“We believe it actually is someone who has been working on the site because to get into the locations where the graffiti was at you have to have a pass and you have to be able to enter,” said Poloncarz.
The Erie County Sheriffs office, in a one paragraph statement, only said it was investigating the matter but nothing more.
“We did not want to see construction stopped, but they need to stop and see what’s going on and apprehend the individual doing this,” said Poloncarz, who seemed confident those responsible would be caught and indicated a reward would be offered.
“The general assumption is that the reward will probably lead to an arrest because there’s a suspicion other people know who did this. And if they believe they will get a reward they will turn in that individual,” said Poloncarz. “Someone did something that maybe they thought was funny but it wasn’t. And they’re gonna be held responsible for their actions.”