Arlington Police said it's working to identify the suspects caught on surveillance video breaking the window of a Jeep parked in front of a home and throwing a firework inside it.
Arlington Police said the incident happened on Monday, July 3 around 9 p.m. When officers responded to the home along the 6100 block of Tiffany Oaks, the homeowner said someone threw fireworks in their vehicle damaging it.
“Once we saw it and realized that it was inside the car we went into panic mode, especially seeing flames and smoke coming out of it, seeing glass everywhere we realized we have a bigger mess than we originally thought," said Payton Sanders who lives at the home.
He said the Jeep belongs to his girlfriend who was visiting him along with his father on the eve of the Fourth of July. He said they were in the backyard grilling and swimming when they heard a loud noise and people screaming.
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"We heard a big 'boom', we heard a lot of yelling, then we heard a car speed off," described Sanders.
He said they ran to the front of the house and saw their car smoking with a small fire.
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“My dad got out here first and said, 'Oh my God there are flames!' So he grabbed the fire extinguisher and put it out," described Sanders who said the flames were small so his father was able to put it out quickly.
He said neighbors came outside and it was the homeowners across the street who provided the surveillance video.
“It stinks to know this could be somebody random targeting you, no matter what you do, or the company that you keep, you’re always susceptible to this kind of thing," said Sanders.
As seen in the video and according to Arlington Police, a light-colored crossover SUV stops in the middle of the street. What appears to be two young people get out of the car, break a hole in the window of the parked Jeep and throw a firework inside. The suspects get back in their car and speed off.
"The damage is pretty extensive, it blew out all the glass, not the windshield, but other windows. Lots and lot of debris and dust, parts of the interior of the car, parts of the firework and whatever was in it, there’s a lot of damage to plastic and leather," explained Sanders.
Police said they're working to identify the suspects and are asking anyone with information to come forward or call Crime Stoppers.
“I want it to stop, you see this kind of stuff and it just gets out of hand, I don’t know if the intent of it was a real bad idea of a prank or if it was someone who was 'I want to commit a crime and want to make this person’s life worse,'" said Sanders.
“You start thinking, 'If they did it to your car then what’s going to stop them from running an extra 20 feet and doing it to my living room throwing at the dining room while eating dinner or whichever?' We don’t like to feel victimized, but I think that’s a little bit of the feeling that everybody has."
