Vandal slashes 18 tires on Noe Valley block

Vandal slashes 18 tires on Noe Valley blockPhoto: Gavin St. Ours/Flickr
Nathan Falstreau
Published on March 12, 2019

Yesterday morning, a slew of Noe Valley residents awoke to find that their cars' tires had been slashed overnight by an unknown suspect or suspects. 

Hoodline reader John M., who lives in the neighborhood, told Hoodline that over 40 cars on the block encompassed by Cesar Chavez, Castro, 26th and Noe streets were targeted, sometime in the evening or early morning.

"Police are here taking reports," John M. said yesterday. "Right next to where I usually park, three nice SUVs — BMWs and Mercedes — all had their tires slashed. I was lucky I moved my car for street cleaning a couple of blocks away, or I'd be at the tire store this morning." 

SFPD spokesperson Officer Joseph Tomlinson told Hoodline that the department received its first reports of the slashings around 9:30 a.m., at Castro and Cesar Chavez streets.

In contrast to John M.'s figure, Tomlinson said that he currently had only 9 tire-slashing victims listed, with a total of 18 tires slashed. But he said the number could grow higher as more victims make reports.

None of the cars were robbed or vandalized beyond the slashed tires. But the number of people affected is unusual, Tomlinson said. "We don’t [normally] get reports like this where there are so many cars affected all at once, and in one area."

There's no suspect in the case as of yet. Police are attempting to review possible video footage that might have captured the incident "to get any images of the culprit, or whoever committed the crimes," Tomlinson added. "We found several cameras in that area, so hopefully, we can get a good image." 

Neighborhood tipster John M. expressed surprise at the incident. "Usually, that part of Noe is relatively safe," he explained. "But this is quite shocking, given the number of vehicles slashed." 

Anyone whose vehicle was affected, or has security footage or other  information about the incident, can contact SFPD via the department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444, or text TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.