Parents and students at a Duncan elementary school are outraged after somebody snuck into a playground and illegally cut down a dozen trees overnight.

Kyle Hughes told CTV News he was relaxing near the playground at Mount Prevost Elementary Tuesday night when he heard the sounds of a saw hacking into wood.

“I yell ‘what are you doing up there bud?’ He says ‘I’m cutting down an effing tree,’ and I’m like ‘what the heck dude?’” Hughes said. “And then he stands up, starts to walk a couple feet toward me and say ‘Do you want me to effing cut you?’”

Hughes said he then retreated to his car and called police to report the vandalism.

Thirty-three trees were planted around the community playground by students and the rest of the neighbourhood a year ago, and on Tuesday, kids and parents were in disbelief they were chopped down.

“It’s awful, it’s worse than damaging equipment,” said parent Mona Kaiser. “There’s something living about a tree, and trees are so symbolic of hope and future and where we really wanted this to go.”

Students gathered around the stumps where trees once stood to hold memorials, and also look for clues as to who cut them down.

Some even offered to bring in sleeping bags and spend the night protecting the few trees left standing.

Still in shock himself, the school’s vice-principal said it was a sad moment – but it could also be a teachable one.

“This is the first playground they’ve known and perhaps will always know. For someone to do something like this, it’s like they’re damaging your own home,” he said. “With every challenge there’s an opportunity. I see an opportunity for regrowth here, and I see a real opportunity here for kids to see how communities can come together.”

Meanwhile, police are searching for a man described as being in his late teens or early 20s.

“We’re extremely motivated to identify this individual, to find out what’s going on with him, that he thinks this is okay,” said Duncan RCMP Cpl. Krista Hobday. “That’s not okay behaviour on any level.”

The owner of a local home and garden shop is already stepping up to repair the damage and replace the trees.

Kelvin McCulloch of Buckerfield’s Country Stores said his store will do whatever it can to put the project back together.

With a report from CTV Vancouver Island’s Zahra Premji