Cars vandalized, spray-painted in southern Durham
DURHAM (WTVD) -- Police are investigating after three cars were vandalized with spray paint over the weekend in southern Durham's Hope Valley Farms neighborhood.
A 2006 Mercedes sedan and a 2005 Chrysler SUV was were damaged on Oakbrook Drive and 2003 GMC SUV was also vandalized on Starcross Lane.
Some of the victims were surprised to find out they weren't the only ones.
Sulaimon Abdul-Mateen, one of the victims, found his Chrysler covered with blobs of white spray paint. He said he'll probably have to get the whole car repainted because the streaks cover the driver's side from the rear-view mirror to the tail light.
"I'm a quiet guy, I keep to myself, don't start a lot of trouble with folks, and so when I saw it I tried to think of who may have done it to me," Sulaimon Abdul-Mateen said. "But then later on in the day when I called the police, I found out that they hit one of the cars up the street."
He said he usually parks on the side of the street, like many of his neighbors, because his driveway is so steep. His neighbor a few doors down, Jennifer Berzinskas, said the same thing. She said her husband's Mercedes sedan was also hit, spray painted near the back window on the driver's side as well.
"It was just mean. I don't understand why somebody would do something like that. It's just pure vandalism," Berzinskas said.
Berzinskas and Abdul-Mateen said they're upset and that the vandalism seems like an act of destruction for destruction's sake, but both are glad the acts appear to be random.
"I really do believe that what goes around, comes around, and if I'm not the person that confronts them about this, it'll be something else that comes back to them," Abdul-Mateen said. "Whether it's next week or five years from now."
"It wasn't any kind of graffiti, it was just someone wanting to mess somebody's car up," Berzinskas said about the spray paint, which was not in the form of any words or images.
"It was just more like a punch in the gut and it was just mean," she added.
