Three Arlington teenagers will face criminal charges for racist and vulgar graffiti left on 17 vehicles over the weekend, police say.
On Saturday morning, several families in east and south Arlington woke up to find their cars vandalized, spray painted with obscene messages and images.
Dexter Smith told NBC 5 he was headed to work at about 6 a.m. when he walked outside to find his Corvette and his brother's pickup truck both damaged with racist graffiti.
“Then it had KKK, then it had another foul word on the back,” Smith said pointing out the damage to his brother’s Ford F-150. “Then it had the N-word on the very back of the truck.”
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
What happened to Smith’s two vehicles happened to as many as 15 other vehicles early Saturday, according to Arlington Police.
Police said surveillance video recorded by the victims and neighbors was critical in helping detectives connect the incidents and identify a "vehicle of interest."
In a statement Wednesday, police said they were able to use the residential surveillance video, which showed the teens in a white van, with information from their Real Time Crime Center to identify the vehicle.
Two of the suspects are juvenile teenage boys while the third is a 17-year-old legal adult. Arlington Police said criminal charges will be filed against all three once detectives determine the total amount of damage caused to the vehicles.
“These incidents didn’t just impact the people whose vehicles were vandalized – they affected and upset the entire Arlington community,” said Chief of Police Al Jones. “The phrases and images spray painted on the vehicles were deeply offensive and have no place in our city. Through this investigation, we’re sending the message that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior and we will hold offenders accountable. I want to thank all of the community members who assisted us with this investigation, as well as the employees who’ve worked tirelessly since Saturday morning to get us to this point. This is another great example of how the community working with their police department can make a positive difference.”
One of the victims said his family is the only Black family on the block and they felt targeted, but police said on Sunday the incidents appear to be random with victims of multiple races, genders and ages.
Police said detectives have also spoken with the families of the three suspects.
