Rising concerns over vandalism in Riverview neighbourhood

MONCTON -

What used to be a front porch light is now a security camera at the Bardales’ house.

It was ordered on amazon one day after they found a bb gun pellet hole in their front window.

“In the morning we were just letting the kids out for school, they were going to meet the bus driver at the end of the driveway and as I was looking through the window, I noticed there was a hole in the window there,” said Illeya Bardales.

Their home is about 100 metres from the road leaving the family to question how someone was able to shoot and damage their window without coming onto their property.

“It kind of makes you think when your kids are outside playing and you know, made us put up a camera in the house there to see what’s going on in the driveway all the time,” said Tammy Bardales.

Illeya says their children have taken the situation quite hard.

“They’re really shooken up. They asks us if we’re going to get shot again,” he said.

On Monday RCMP provided an update to Riverview Town Council, stating that between March 17 and 20 there were nine reports of windows being shot by a bb gun in the East Riverview Area.

However, the Bardales say they reported the shot at their home on March 28.

“When you’re trying to make your house look better and constantly upgrading your house and then you have something unexpected like this happen and it kind of puts you back from what your plans are,” said Tammy. “It’s discouraging and very hard to deal with.”

While the bb gun incidents are definitely troubling, residents say it isn’t the only neighbourhood concern.

“A friend across the street there, they had their window kicked in,” said Tammy.

“Up the street there, they’ve had their truck vandalised quite a few times. Even the point park petro, they’ve had a lot of vandalism.”

Fred Bron says his truck has been broken into three times and every time he’s reported it to the RCMP.

“We’ve been here for just over 10 years in this neighbourhood,” he said. “It’s a beautiful neighbourhood, great neighbourhood for sure, but what we’re clearly seeing is a downward spiral of what is happening.”

He says one of his neighbours even had gas syphoned out of their vehicle.

“It’s our property, we work for it […] and then to just have someone come and take it and what we’re seeing is it is getting worse so we’re getting a lot more frustrated,” he said.

He’s a part of a neighbourhood watch group, which encourages people to call police no matter how small the incident is to encourage more patrols in the area.

“Even with cameras, and I have cameras on my house, it’s still not really a deterrent,” he said. “We need the courts to be doing a lot more.”

Also part of the neighbourhood watch is just a sense of community - watching out for your neighbours and hoping they do the same for you.

As far as the BB gun incidents go, RCMP say it’s an active investigation and anyone with information should contact police.