Rutland police sealed off a basketball court on Park Street today but were tight-lipped about what took place.

“I can't comment right now,” Detective Sgt. Kevin Stevens said.

Stevens, the head investigator in the case, was referred to by other city officers as the only person authorized to release information of any kind about the incident. Even the nature of the event was kept under wraps.

Yellow tape was stretched across the court that doubles as a courtyard for the Howard Center Park Street Program — a residential treatment facility for adolescent men with sexual offending behaviors.

Shelly McGinnis, the program's director, said today that an incident that took place on the court Sunday night or this morning did not involve any of the residents or staff at the 24-hour center. The center remained open today although the basketball court was off-limits and guarded by city police.

Late this morning, a pair of state police crime scene investigators visited the court briefly.
Asked if there was any continued threat to public safety, Stevens said he didn't think so but couldn't be more specific.

A staff person at Vermont Achievement Center right across the street from the Howard Center said police had issued no warnings about safety and children at the school weren't restricted from using the playground.