The vandals left a deep and destructive mark.
As a sophomore at Texas Christian University, Rendon Allan Petroff was home for the summer only a couple days before his 2007 GMC Yukon was targeted. The car was parked in the driveway of his home when two vandals struck.
“They let the air out of my tires and keyed my car,” Petroff says. “The whole left rear passenger door — there were scratches so deep you can see the metal.”
Petroff says the tires and wheels were not damaged, but that the crime was a definite annoyance. The deep scratch also will be costly to repair. A security camera recorded the incident, but it is difficult to make out a description of the criminals, he says.
“I was pretty mad,” Petroff says. “I didn’t know why they did it to me. I don’t have any enemies.”
It will cost about $1,000 to repair the vehicle.
Dallas Police Lt. Barry Payne of the North Central Patrol Division says this type of crime almost always occurs in an attempt to target an individual.
“Unlike offenses where people drive by and shoot out windows or knock mailboxes over, these suspects actually entered on the property and let the air out and scratched the car, up close and personal,” he says. “It is extremely rare for these to be done randomly.
The motivations for these targeted acts are endless, including something as routine as road rage, an argument, ex-girlfriend or boyfriend, or a perceived wrong of some sort.”
Unfortunately, Payne says there isn’t much to prevent these crimes other than parking inside a garage or having good motion-detecting lighting.
“This area was probably well lit since they had a surveillance video, but that doesn’t help a lot if you don’t know or cannot recognize the suspects.”
