Vancouver police warn of TikTok challenge where people kick in homeowners’ doors
By AUDREY WEIL
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VANCOUVER, Washington (KPTV) — social media challenge is causing problems in Vancouver because it calls for people to kick in doors of unsuspecting homeowners.
Police say this happened at least seven times in one neighborhood in under an hour Wednesday night.
Matthew Trimble said a neighbor called to let him know after someone tried it at his place.
“I called my wife Dani and told her to brace the door with the chair and I’d be home as soon as I can,” he said.
Police shared a photo of an older dark colored sedan with chrome spoke wheels from surveillance video. They said in most of the cases, it was teenage boys.
When we searched “door kick challenge” on TikTok, we found videos dating back months, a lot of them appearing to be in college dorms, and only in some of them are people actually able to kick the door in.
But when we asked TikTok about what’s happening in Vancouver, a spokesperson told us, “While we have not seen this trending on our platform, we expect our community to create responsibly and will remove content that encourages vandalism and other criminal activities.”
Officers and neighbors said they’re worried about how people might react when they’re caught off guard in their own homes.
“It’s just really unsafe for these kids, like you kick on the wrong door you might be met with some lethal force,” Trimble said.
Police encourage parents to talk with their kids about this challenge and warn them of how dangerous it can be.
Vancouver police are asking anyone with information or who knows who’s responsible for these to give them a call.
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