FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. – Residents in parts of Fernandina Beach woke up Saturday morning to a not-so-cheery sight: Their Christmas decorations were damaged.
For some, they say the vandalism started a month ago when their Halloween decorations were destroyed.
Security camera footage shown to News4JAX by Lexus, a homeowner, showed some individuals picking up some of her yard decorations before throwing them.
That group of individuals is then seen running off.
Lexus said when she and her husband came outside, they saw the decorations split in half, but have since glued them back together.
“That was disheartening,” Lexus said.
Lexus said what makes this sad is the damage could have been worse. “My window is right there and I’m like thankfully it didn’t go through my window.”
On the same morning the Lexus' decorations were damaged, other families also woke up to destroyed decorations.
A man who asked not to be identified said his family woke up to two of their inflatable decorations, a Minnie Mouse and a Santa Claus, without air, thrown around and containing a hole.
“My two-year-old took it the hardest,” the man said. “She’s really big into Minnie and Santa, and those are the two that got destroyed, so we had to go to Home Depot and immediately replace [them] for her.”
A few other home decorations were hit on the same day, including one family’s weighted skeleton that was pushed over and had its arm detached.
Others in this area also say they’ve had this problem before during Halloween when other decorations were destroyed, and they want it to stop.
Moving forward, these homeowners tell News4JAX that they plan to put up more security cameras around their homes in hopes of getting a better look at those causing them this headache and, if caught, plan on turning them into the sheriff’s office.
News4JAX reached out to the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office asking about these vandalisms but has not yet received a response.