Man arrested after dozens of car tires slashed in Alexandria, police say
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (FOX 5 DC) - Dozens of people who live in Alexandria woke up Tuesday morning to find their car tires slashed. Police say at least 60 cars were hit in the neighborhoods along Kenwood Avenue. An arrest in the case was made Tuesday afternoon.
Surveillance video captured on a neighbor's Nest camera shows a man around 1:30 early Tuesday going from car to car in the Terrace Townhome community.
It appears he used a large sharp object to stab multiple tires, the sound of them deflating actually triggered the camera to start recording. Police say the video helped them identify a suspect.
It would be several hours later, as FOX 5 cameras were recording, when officers descended onto a nearby home here and took a man into custody. He was seen in handcuffs being put into the back of a squad car. He is now being questioned by police on a possible motive. His name has not been released.
Meanwhile, the scene early this morning was chaos as tow trucks towed away cars with flat tires. Many neighbors were seen helping others swap out the damaged tires.
A victim named Mike Wolfe said, "Those tires are about three months old, they are about $160 apiece. Some can get up to $400. You’re looking at a lot of people who have to pay out of pocket that shouldn’t have to be spent today, that’s very unfortunate.”
“I spoke to one resident who had to take the entire day off as a nurse. So this crime is impacting her financially, it's impacting her workplace and it's impacting the people she normally helps and she's just one of many people who have similar sorts," said the HOA president Gary Burns.
Even a local tow company was surprised.
“Its very unusual, even when we deal with somebody that slashes tires its usually one or two vehicles, they know the person, something like that. This is something just more…malicious," said Frank Scheer from Road RES-Q.
It’s believed the man arrested lived in a nearby home. It’s possible he could face felony charges based on the amount of damage. Unclear if anyone else could face charges too.