East Lake vandals target passing cars with rocks, metal rods

ATLANTA - East Lake resident Deborah VanTrece recorded disturbing images of three men hurling metal poles and rocks at passing motorists. 

"I woke up in the middle of the night because the sounds woke me up," VanTrece told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes. "Like a ‘Clink, clink, clink.’ Like a hubcap falling off or something and cars hitting that." 

The culprits targeted drivers near Glenwood Avenue and Allendale Drive in southeast Atlanta at around 1 a.m. Tuesday. 

"I could see one gentleman kind of stumbling," VanTrece recalled. "He had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his head like a mask. So, I thought if you know to do that much, then you know what you are doing is wrong. I start seeing them actually climbing the fence, bringing out these metal rods, and then launching them as traffic was coming." 

VanTrece called 911. The suspects left the area before officers arrived at scene. 

FOX 5 showed the video to a project manager at the staging area which houses the metal rods and other materials the vandals launched at passing cars. He said keeping trespassers out of the gated worksite is a challenge. 

VanTrece posted the video on Nextdoor to alert neighbors.  

"I posted the video hoping someone would recognize these people. I've been in the neighborhood 10 years, have never seen anything like that. My first thought was maybe car break-ins, but to see them actually launching poles out at traffic I just don't understand that at all."