The Manteca Police Department is looking for the public’s help in identifying a group of vandals that gained access to Bass Pro Shops late Friday night and – among other things – discharged a fire extinguisher into one of the fish tanks.

According to the agency, officers were dispatched to the store just before 10 p.m. in response to an alarm notification.

When officers arrived, they were unable to locate anybody inside of the store but were able to access surveillance footage that showed three young males inside of the store after closing time. Still shots that were taken from the video shows two of the young men walking up the stairway behind the waterfall near the store’s massive fish tank – a popular destination for guests who like looking at the sturgeon, striped bass, and other fish species contained beneath the giant waterfall.

The store has one other water feature on the ground floor that houses large trout of various species.

On the Manteca Police Department’s social media post asking for the public’s help in identifying the three suspects one local woman said that a similar group had emptied a fire extinguisher inside of the AMC Theater during a movie that same night. That information has not been corroborated.

The massive store, which carries a wide variety of outdoor and sporting equipment as well as firearms and ammunition, is also known for its extensive collection of taxidermied animals – valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. While the store was under construction, a tent in the parking lot that temporarily housed the animals before they were set in the dioramas inside of the store had armed security to protect them.

Anybody with information about the identities of the three young men contained in the surveillance photos are encouraged to contact the Manteca Police Department at 209.456.8101.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.