Arlington police have 'strong leads' in weekend vandalism investigation

ARLINGTON, Texas - Arlington police say they have promising leads on the vandals who tagged 17 cars in south and east Arlington over the weekend. 

Police say they believe the same people were responsible for all of the spray-painted racial slurs, which happened late Friday and early Saturday morning.

Arlington police say they collected more surveillance video of the vandals on a crime spree writing hateful racial slurs on nearly 20 cars. But due to their investigation, they aren't releasing that video yet. 

One of the victims showed a video that his home surveillance camera captured Saturday morning. The video shows a white car pull up and stop in front of a white truck. A couple of people climbed out, and then it drove away. 

Sergeant Courtney White with the Arlington Police Department said on Monday that the 17 cars were all within a few miles of each other, and the victims were of different races and genders.

"It appears these incidents were random, but that does not take away the seriousness of the crime spree. These incidents have left our department and many in our city concerned and upset.  This type of activity and the phrases spray painted have no place in our city," White said. "The Arlington Police Department will do everything to ensure the people responsible are held accountable. We have dedicated additional resources to working these cases. Detectives have been out since Saturday gathering more information and surveillance footage.

White says the case is currently being investigated as criminal mischief, but the charges could later be enhanced to a hate crime depending on what detectives learn in their investigation. She said they don't have any details to release about possible suspects at this time. 

Police are urging anyone with surveillance video or information about the suspects to come forward. 

White is asking people to call police directly or call Tarrant County Crime Stoppers.