A Scarborough homeowner is shaken after masked vandals armed with hammers destroyed a display of large Christmas inflatables on his front lawn over the weekend, he says.
Scot Patriquin, a Guildwood resident and father of three, said his family put the finishing touches on the display on Saturday.
It included Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Abominable Snowman and a nativity scene. Completing the display involved tethering the inflatables to the ground.
Patriquin has put up the display every year for nearly a decade. And every year, people drive by to have a look and take pictures with it.
But at 2 a.m. on Sunday, while Patriquin and his son were watching a show, a car pulled up, slowed down and stopped. He said he and his son thought they were just onlookers.
“Then my son screams, ‘They’re popping the inflatables,'” Patriquin said.
One of the vandals went up to the front door at one point, according to doorbell camera video shown to CBC Toronto.
“When I got to the front door…there was a person on the other side of the front door,” Patriquin said.
“The person on the side of the door has a hammer, and he’s literally swinging violently the hammer to make sure that he tears this inflatable off the roof and catastrophically destroyed every single one of the inflatables.”
Even two inflatables hanging off the roof, of Rudolph saving Santa, were slashed.
Patriquin said the display had “become a source of pride and community spirit” and the house has been known as “the house with the inflatables.”
It’s a “devastating thought” that it has gone from a source of pride to a scene of destruction, he said.
The incident has been reported to the Toronto police. Stephanie Miceli, spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service, confirmed on Wednesday that police have a report on the incident but no suspect information.
According to Patriquin, the vandals also damaged a vehicle in the neighbourhood and tried unsuccessfully to steal another one.
Neighbours have shared security camera video with each other and pinpointed not only the suspect vehicle but the path it took entering and exiting the neighbourhood. The information will be shared with police, he said.
Patriquin now calls the vandals “car thieves who also don’t like Christmas” and “tough guys killing Frosty.” He said it hurts to think about the incident.
A local retailer has reached out to help replace the vandalized display and Patriquin said he has decided it should be recreated.
“We’re not going to let the criminals win,” Patriquin said.
“No matter what we do with this, the Christmas spirit has shown itself — a lot of people sharing sympathy, empathy and just letting me know how much it meant to them.”
