SAN MARCOS, Calif. — A San Marcos neighborhood suffered a series of vandalism attacks on their Christmas decorations.
Neighbors in the San Elijo Hills community say multiple homes were hit, and the destruction was all caught on camera. Ring surveillance footage captured the vandals knocking over and ripping out Christmas decorations outside of several homes.
“It’s definitely hard not to be angry when you’re watching this on camera,” homeowner Tony Lopez said.
Lopez says his home was hit two nights ago. His Ring camera caught the vandals in the act.
“You just see a bunch of teenagers being completely reckless and destructive for no apparent reason,” Lopez said.
Down the street from Lopez, Julie Mabie’s home was also hit.
“It feels like an attack on Christmas and Grinch behavior because again this is all for the kids and they’re just destroying Christmas for the kids and that’s probably what’s most disheartening about it all,” Mabie said.
Neighbors started sharing with each other videos and screenshots from their Ring cameras of the attacks.
“Why would you want to destroy Christmas? Christmas is about bringing joy and laughter and caring and bringing the community together,” Mabie said. “That’s why we spend the time doing this.”
Many surveillance cameras captured what appears to be the same group of young people in a white car targeting mostly Christmas inflatables.
“We’re not going to stand up for that,” Mabie said. “We’re going to come together as a community and make sure you’re held accountable.”
Neighbors say they’ve filed multiple reports with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department hoping the surveillance videos can lead to an arrest. While the vandals may be trying to kill the Christmas spirit, Lopez says they won’t win.
“My sons were pretty disappointed,” Lopez said. “One of them was like ‘We shouldn’t decorate anymore’ and I said ‘No, we can’t do that. Next year, we’re going to go even bigger.”
Neighbors say about 15 homes were hit in the last six days. FOX 5 reached out to the Sheriff’s Department and has yet to hear back.