A new TikTok trend has left a neighborhood in Arizona terrorized as teenagers are vandalizing their homes as a part of their ‘pranks’. The Chandler Police Department in Arizona has warned residents of the locality with the rise of this social media trend, following which, some teens are kicking down the doors of people’s houses and causing damage.
The Police have asked the parents to be careful and informed about their teen children’s whereabouts and also help them understand the legal consequences of such terrible actions.
The authorities mentioned on social media, “Parents — please take a moment to talk with your children. Know where they are, who they’re with, and what they’re doing. Help them understand the legal and personal consequences of these actions.”
A video depicting the trend shows one teen banging the door of a person’s house a number of times. Another part of that same clip shows that a bunch of teens are doing the same thing, everyone at once. Talking about the same, Angelica Proffer, a resident of Mesa, told CBS affiliate KTVK-TV, “They’re just getting weird TikTok challenges and they’re daring each other.”
She also mentioned that similar pranks were going on in her neighborhood as well and her neighbors suffered because of this strange TikTok challenge. Talking about how one of her neighbors was affected, Angelica said, “Their garage door was dented pretty bad.”
Angelica is a teacher by profession and that helped her to identify some of the kids in the video after sending it to the local high school. She said, “The boys that did it at our house, they didn’t even know each other. Just some kids walking by them dared them to do it.”
Angelica further added, “Their parents were mortified. ‘We’ll pay for the damages. We’ll help you out. Whatever you need. If you decide to press charges, we understand. But they were very willing to work with us, and we were grateful for that.”
While she did not press charges, the trend has continued to grow and instances of such vandalism have been experienced in Chandler, which is about 30 minutes away from Phoenix. Mentioning how this trend has been causing people a lot of trouble, Chandler Police Detective Zachary Odom, one particular family, who did not come forward with their complaints, has been targeted by these teens numerous times.
Odom said, “A group of juveniles arrived at a specific house and targeted them about 18 times. So the couple was terrified to the point where, in the end, they did move out of the residence.” They thought someone was repeatedly trying to break into their home and considered that moving would be their best option.
However, the teens who attacked the house multiple times did not know the couple and also were apparently unaware of the fact that the house had been targeted previously. The police have been able to get hold of three teens who were identified from the video that showed the teens vandalizing people’s homes.
Odom has mentioned that these teens could be facing a number of charges, including harassment, disorderly conduct, criminal damage etc. It now remains to be seen if the arrest of these teens will lead to a decline in these pranks.
