Highland Park residents have been raising concerns about roofing nails being intentionally left in the streets of the neighborhood these past weeks.
Hundreds of nails were found on Lomo Alto Drive between Mockingbird Lane and Beverly Drive which resident Jodi Shays and her neighbors spent hours picking up, she told Fox 4.
The Highland Park Police Department has been asking the public to report any information they might have to help solve this mystery.
However, it appears that they might finally have a lead on a suspect.
“We haven’t had an arrest for us, but Plano [Police Department] has somebody that they have arrested,” Lt. Jessa Russell, community relations officer for Highland Park police, told The Dallas Express.
“And the M.O. and the suspect vehicle is similar, and the suspect description is similar so that’s somebody that is a suspect that we are looking at in our incidents,” Russell explained.
The man now suspected as the “nail bandit” first came to the attention of Plano police officers on Saturday, October 22, at approximately 9:15 a.m., when they responded to a call at the Toyota Headquarters in the 6500 block of Headquarters Drive that shots had been fired.
According to Plano PD’s news release, witnesses in the parking lot of the location told police that they had heard gunshots and observed the suspect driving a dark-colored, four-door sedan while pointing a firearm at the Toyota Headquarters building.
Shell casings were found at that location which confirmed the eyewitness’ statements, police said.
During a preliminary investigation, Senior Security and Emergency Management for Toyota noted that the suspect’s vehicle matched the description of a suspicious vehicle seen dropping several nails throughout the Toyota Headquarters parking lot on October 20, 2022, and October 21.
Using surveillance video footage from these Plano incidents and collaborating with other agencies, the Plano police determined a possible suspect, according to the press release.
On Monday, October 24, Plano police officers arrested 45-year-old Kevin Genter, a resident of Grand Prairie, for the deadly conduct incident that occurred on Saturday at the Toyota Headquarters.
He is now the suspected perpetrator of the various nail-dumping incidents affecting Dallas residents.
Highland Park’s Lt. Russell told The Dallas Express that Highland Park, SMU, University Park, and the city of Plano have had issues with someone dropping hundreds of nails on the streets.
Plano police and several surrounding agencies, including the University Park Police Department, Highland Park Police Department, and Southern Methodist University Police Department have ongoing investigations and additional charges may be forthcoming, the Plano police news release said.
Genter’s bond will be set at his magistrate hearing at the Collin County Detention Center.