JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of tires were slashed this week on Jacksonville’s Southside, residents told News4JAX.
The vandal, or vandals, struck in the middle of the night in the Belle Rive community.
Now neighbors are on edge.
When Lisa Boroska’s car wouldn’t move from her parking spot on Wednesday morning, her first thought was something was wrong under the hood.
“I first thought, ‘oh my gosh, the transmission went out.’ So put it back in park, did it again and it still wouldn’t move. But I didn’t see any service engine light or nothing,” she said.
She got out of the car and quickly realized the problem wasn’t under the hood.
“I noticed that the two tires on this side were flat. And then I went around and looked at this side. And the third one was flat. And then I noticed the cut marks in them,” Boroska said.
Boroska wasn’t the only person with flat tires in her neighborhood.
Tom Steele also woke up on Wednesday morning to find that his truck had all four tires slashed along with all four tires on his wife’s car.
“I just started working. I’ve just started a new job this week. So of course, having to get both the cars to the shop, get a rental car, three hours late for work. It’s a huge inconvenience,” Steele said. “$1,250 for my tires. My wife if we bought them outright, about $600. The cameras probably going to be about another three or $400. So, yeah, just from one senseless act. We’re already close to $2,000.”
Steele is worried they could get hit again.
“I know, with my wife and I were both at different times during the night, but getting up and coming outside and just actually looking and looking down, looking down the row of cars that we have here just to just to double check,” he said.
Retired director of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Tom Hackney said people should be alert for suspicious activity and call the police to report it.
“Be a good observer, notice vehicles and you know, if you can safely do so, get a description of the people, get a description of the car. If it’s in progress, happening, call 911,” Hackney said.
Neighbors said they counted almost 20 instances of tire slashings in three nights. News4JAX reached out to JSO to get an exact number of reports in the area but did not immediately hear back.