Car paint damaged by vandals in Northeast Philadelphia

LAWNCREST - March 28, 2012 (WPVI) -- If it's not slashed tires, it's defacing the paint jobs on parked cars, Northeast Philadelphia has got an epidemic of vandalism

The residents on Van Kirk Street are tired of waking up to the same heart sinking sight.

"We just got our vehicle out four months ago from getting repainted from being vandalized. This is just sickening. [We're] just tired of it," Lawncrest resident Yolanda Tyler said.

Yolanda's car has been attacked four times by vandals.

This time, it appears to be some kind of caustic liquid, most likely acid, that was sprayed onto 16 cars along the 600 block Van Kirk Street early Wednesday morning.

Residents of this neighborhood have been hit multiple times.

"Everyone on this block goes to work and just trying hard to survive. To have to go through this constantly, it's a pain; we just got the car back in December," resident Theresa Desir said.

William Robinson says his insurance has already paid out $20,000 worth of damage claims, but he still has to pick up the deductible which runs into the thousands.

"I'm on a fixed income. I'm a retried, disable vet and this is where my money goes at," Robinson said.

Police don't believe this vandalism is connected to the hundreds of tire slashings that are plaguing neighborhoods just a few miles away.

This latest attack comes one day after the arrest of a tire slashing suspect in the Northeast section of Philadelphia.

21-year-old Quincy Kramer was allegedly caught on camera slashing the tires of a car near Rowland and Cottman Avenues last week.

He is charged with slashing nine tires in the incident, but police think Kramer is a copycat and that someone else is responsible for the bulk of tires that were flattened in Mayfair over the past few months.

A video surveillance camera on one of the houses on Van Kirk was pointed directly at two of the cars vandalized overnight.

Police are hoping it reveals a clear picture of a suspect.

In the meantime, anger and frustration has people talking about taking matters into their own hands.

"I honestly think that there's going to be some copycats running around and there may be a group of people who may find that one individual doing something stupid, and they will definitely take it out on them, before calling the cops," resident Everett Reynolds said.

The police are urging residents to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and to call them first.

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philadelphia, northeast philadelphia, vandalism, local/state

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