Police have released video footage showing two suspects who allegedly spray painted swear words on homes and vehicles in Vaughan and left behind skinned goat heads.
The first incident happened in the early morning hours of Oct. 25 in the area of Melville Avenue and Hudson Drive, which is south of Major MacKenzie Drive West and east of Jane Street.
York Regional Police (YRP) said that they were called to the scene at around 2:15 a.m. for reports of swear words found spray painted on a SUV in the driveway of a home and on the garage door.
Police said that one of the suspects walked up to the driveway, smashed the vehicle’s windows, and spray painted graffiti on it. That individual then allegedly spray painted graffiti on the garage, while the second suspect stood on the sidewalk as a lookout.
Two days later, on Oct. 27, police were called back to that same address at 3:45 a.m. after someone reportedly threw a skinned goat head through the home’s front window.
Upon arriving at the scene, police say that officers also found graffiti spray painted in three vehicles in the driveway. They also said that they located stick figures spray-painted on the walkway and a second goat head.
Later that day, YRP attended another home in the area of Weston Road and Villa Royale Avenue, south of Major MacKenzie Drive West, after receiving reports that someone had left two skinned goat heads on the front doorstep. Police said that there was also an undisclosed threat spray painted on the walkway.
Authorities said that they believe these “disturbing acts of vandalism” are targeted and that the same suspects are responsible for all three of them.
Police did, however, say that the second home attended by the suspects was likely a “mistaken target.”
“This definitely wasn’t a Halloween trick or treat. In fact, it's it is quite a disturbing act of, as we are calling it, this kind of targeted vandalism,” Const. Lisa Moskaluk, of York Regional Police, told CP24 on Wednesday afternoon.
“We are treating it as a dispute and that's what we're investigating is a dispute between the suspects and whoever their intended target may be.”
Moskaluk noted that the incidents are not being considered “hate based.”
She indicated that at this time investigators are looking into any relationships that the residents of these homes may have had that could be connected to what happened.
They're are working to determine a motive for this “dispute,” she said.
So far, police have not released any detailed suspect descriptions. Moskaluk would only say that they wore “pretty nondescript clothing and N95 masks.”
She did say that the suspects are seen using a white sedan in all of the incidents.
“So we're hoping that anybody who reviews their video from the area, that live in the neighborhood, maybe they catch that vehicle passing by their home or on the road. And any little insignificant piece of information that may seem insignificant to the public, it may be that that little piece of information that opens up our case for us,” Moskaluk said.
On Wednesday morning, YRP released surveillance video footage that appears to show both suspects vandalizing vehicles in the driveway of the same home near Melville Avenue and Hudson Drive.
In the almost two-minute long video, a white sedan is seen pulling up on a residential street on Oct. 25 around 2 a.m. and two males are seen walking towards a driveway.
One of the suspects then approaches a parked vehicle and begins writing in red-coloured spray paint on the hood and front grill as well as a passenger-side rear door. That same person then appears to use a hammer to smash the vehicle’s front window three times as well as the passenger-side windows before fleeing the scene.
The second suspect remained on the sidewalk while all of this was taking place.
The clip also included footage from the Oct. 27 incident.
In that case, a white sedan is seen arriving and parking near the end of a driveway. Two male suspects then approach a driveway, one of whom appears to make a beeline for the front of the house.
The other then walks around and in between a parked car and a larger utility-type truck while tagging both vehicles.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about these incidents, including anyone with dashcam footage or surveillance video, to come forward.
“They are small neighborhood and just about everybody has cameras, security cameras on their vehicle so we're hoping that something can help us at least identify the suspects,” Moskaluk said.
