PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Some residents in the Sellwood neighborhood rang in the new year with an unwelcome surprise. Vandals left them picking up the pieces after they struck multiple homes across several blocks.
In one instance, they cut into an inflatable Christmas display and dragged it out of the yard.
Every year Ryan Meaney and his family spend 40 to 50 hours building their Christmas display. It includes everything from 10,000 lights to 15 inflatable characters—they all come to life around 5:30 in the evening. But on January 1, shortly after getting out of bed, Meaney realized someone had attempted to destroy their Christmas cheer.
“It is split wide open in the back,” said Meaney, talking about his inflatable Santa that was cut down, along with lights that were ripped out and thrown across the street.
After talking to his other neighbors, he realized he wasn’t the only victim.
“From Sellwood Boulevard, all the way up to Sellwood Bridge, there was just mass chaos,” said Meaney.
Across the street, the vandals smashed the window out of a van. Another window was smashed in a new house around the corner. A block away at the Sheehan house, Andrea and her son Everett said the group of vandals threw a rock into the family truck.
“My dad’s car got vandalized and I really don’t like it,” said Everett.
The Sheehan’s neighbor woke up when their truck window shattered. Meaney said he came outside, but could only see the group of teens or young adults running away.
“It’s a bummer,” said Andrea. “All of our neighbors the next day were out—instead of enjoying the New Year, we’re out fixing the broken glass.”
But it was the destruction of the Christmas display that really dampened the spirit in the tight-knit community.
“Santa next door, who we walked by every day, counting down to Christmas—which was the highlight to our season then—was dragged and torn apart in the street,” said Andrea. “Sad.”
“The hundreds of people who walk through this neighborhood, drive through and see this,” said Meaney.
He plans to try to sew Santa back together. Meaney estimates the vandals did $7-9,000 in damage across the community.