ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – In the middle of the night while a couple was asleep, a group of teens did major damage to their home. Now, the family is outraged.
The teens appeared to have no intention of breaking in or stealing from the home, and it appears it may be a trend. At 2:30 Friday morning, while a husband and wife were asleep in their bed, a group of teens was outside looking for trouble.
“It’s a little unnerving for the whole family,” said Victoria Gurule. Almost a minute after scoping out this west side home, all six of them, getting a running start, rammed the garage door with their bodies.
“And you can tell from the footage that the guy that did it on this side made sure that he really jumped into it,” said Gurule.
Gurule’s parents own the home. The dent on their garage door just missed their cars inside–but the damage is so bad, they can’t get them out.
“It’s really personal. It’s a huge violation when it happens to, you know, your own family,” she said. Gurule said the neighbors across the street heard the crash and it’s their cameras that captured what happened.
“The glass is broken. I mean everything was completely exposed on the top,” said Gurule, and they weren’t the only ones.
“From what I’ve seen, about four other people from this neighborhood had the same thing happen to them last night or sometime this morning.”
A spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department pointed out the teens were recording the incident. He suspected it may be a trend, as it turns out, it is.
“All the sudden, I hear a big huge boom, and the whole house shakes,” said a woman from Las Vegas, Nevada, who spoke with a news station there. The same thing happened to her garage, leaving a huge dent in the door, hitting her car. It’s referred to as “door diving.”
“It’s a prank. It may have been funny to these kids that did it, but it’s a huge expense to my family,” said Gurule.
The garage door has to be replaced at a cost of more than $1,000. “My parents are retired and this is no way they should be spending their retirement on, with their safety at risk,” she said.
She hopes these kids learn a lesson. “Please find something better to do with your time,” said Gurule.
The family has been sharing Gurule’s car in the meantime since their cars are trapped inside. She said luckily, a garage door company can replace it on Saturday.
APD said the teens could face criminal damage to property charges, which due to the cost of the damage would be a felony.
If you see any recordings posted of this prank, call Crime Stoppers at (505)843-STOP.