To say Joshuah Simon and his family like Christmas would be a Santa-sized understatement. All you have to do is take a look at their front lawn.
“We add new decorations each year,” said Simon, who lives on Cool River Court. “It’s a lot of pride. A lot of time goes into this and we want people to enjoy it.”
That’s why they were heartbroken when three vandals swept through neighborhood early Saturday morning and wrecked their display.
“They destroyed a blowup reindeer and pulled it out into the street,” said Simon. “They pulled up some candy canes, knocked over a bunch of Christmas lights, then proceeded on to the neighbor’s house.”
That neighbor has surveillance cameras, which captured the attack on his decorations. The video shows three young men running onto his lawn, pulling up Christmas lights, kicking over decorations and using a candy cane from Simon’s yard to smash a light-up tree. Once they were done, you see them take off on foot.
Mansfield police said the vandals later attacked a third home along nearby Copper Cove Circle.
“It’s a little disheartening to come out and see all the hard work that we’ve done has been vandalized,” said Simon.
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Simon and neighbors said they spent more than four hours and nice chunk of change the next day to fix everything. But they refuse to let this situation get them down.
“You know, people enjoy this and we’re going to continue to do it regardless of what you think you can do to destroy that,” said Simon.
The only reason the homeowners had the surveillance cameras to begin with is because their Christmas display was vandalized last year, as well.
If you have any information about this crime, you’re urged to call Mansfield police. They’re asking residents of that area to report any suspicious behavior they see.
NBC 5's Ben Russell contributed to this report.
