CARLSBAD, Calif. — Surveillance cameras caught someone jumping out of an SUV and repeatedly stabbing an inflatable Santa in one Carlsbad neighborhood Tuesday night.
Both parents and children in the Ho Ho Highland neighborhood are heated over the naughty vandal.
"You don't deserve a Christmas!” young Cayleigh exclaimed. “And you deserve to get coal!"
Her brother, 11-year-old Zachary agreed.
"It's kinda immature for them to do that," he said. "The first thing that came through my mind is that elementary school students are making better decisions than you."
Theresa, their mom, started the decorating idea hoping to spread the Christmas spirit throughout her community. She said their neighborhood puts out roughly 70 Santa's around the holiday season and soon became known by locals as Ho Ho Highland. It's gained popularity in recent years as visitors came to see the union of Santa's.
Theresa also said inflatable Santas have been popped in Christmas' past — but they didn't let it take their holiday spirit.
"So when we put these up, we thought, 'No one is going to do that to Santa. Well, they did.’”
Carlsbad neighbors say they won't let this act of vandalism it slide.
Sharon and Robert take their daily walks through the Highland neighborhood and say this Grinch needs to be held accountable.
“No getting a free ride on this one," Robert said. "They’re hurting the Christmas spirit!”
Sharon added, “Perhaps there should be some restitution for the damage they caused."
But because the holiday spirit is so strong in Ho Ho Highland, Theresa says there's grace and forgiveness if the Grinch owns up to what they did.
"It was a moment. It was a mistake," she said. "They were being mischievous. We don't want this to end with them getting in trouble. It's college application time. We don't want to mess with that. We’ll take an apology. Maybe replace a couple of Santas and some good deeds."
CBS 8 spoke with several of the neighbors and visitors to Ho Ho Highland who said they were disappointed with what happened to Santa. But the Christmas spirit will prevail, they said, and the community will lead with love and forgiveness this holiday season.
Theresa said they believe they know who is responsible and they are working on a plan to hold the Grinch accountable.
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