Tires slashed, punctured on multiple cars in East Austin neighborhood

AUSTIN, Texas - An East Austin neighborhood is shaken up after dozens of car tires were slashed over the weekend. The suspect was caught on camera carrying a sharp tool and puncturing tires.

"Basically, every car as you went up the street had multiple tires slashed on it," said Brandon Harder, a victim of tire slasher.

Almost every car parked in the East Austin neighborhood near Cesar Chavez Street was flat.

"I guess it's just hard to understand the point like why? Why us? Why?" said Harder.

Harder lives in the neighborhood with his wife and says he quickly found out how this happened through his Ring camera. The camera caught the suspect red-handed at almost exactly 2 a.m. Sunday. It shows a man, angry, yelling as he punctures Harder’s tires in the driveway.

"He had a weapon. A stick with something really sharp on the end that he was using to jab all of our tires. It's concerning," said Harder.

Tiago Soromenho also lives in the neighborhood with his wife. He says that night they were awoken by the sounds of someone yelling. Soromenho and his wife say they saw the suspect in their driveway and slash the tires of their vehicles. At that moment, Soromenho says he was not going to just let the suspect get away, so he chased him down the street.

"I just started yelling at him to stop and he started yelling at me, but continuing puncturing tires," he said.

Because the suspect continued slashing more and more tires, Soromenho decided calling the police would be the next best move.

"I was on the phone with 911 saying, ‘I got a guy here. He's dangerous. He's got a knife. He's puncturing tires’ and they're like, ‘well, we're kind of busy. We'll send somebody when we can’. I just kept following him a bit down the street, and then, at one point, he kind of noticed I was just following him so he ducked out," he said.

It is believed over 30 cars were impacted by the tire slasher. An incident that has happened in this neighborhood before, according to neighbors. Dozens of neighbors are now having to pay for new tires. They hope the man responsible is caught.

"I want tire slashing to stop," said Harder.

The Austin Police Department is investigating.

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