A suburban man is looking for answers after parts of his elaborate holiday display was vandalized, NBC Chicago’s Vi Nguyen reports.
A suburban man is looking for answers after parts of his elaborate holiday display were vandalized.
The incident occurred near 163rd Street and Surrey Drive last week in Tinley Park.
Christmas holds a special place for Tim Bartz. He puts up the festive lights display every year to spread holiday cheer and to honor his mom.
Bartz moved into the neighborhood May of 2020.
“Mrs. Claus probably reminds me the most of my mom,” he said. “One of the last time my mom was here I told her just wait till Christmas you’re not going to believe what I’m going to do—unfortunately she passed away and never got to see it.”
The display of 60,000 lights took him three weeks to set up and in a matter of seconds, he said it could have been destroyed completely last Friday night.
“Who in the heck would do something like this?” he said. “It’s Christmas why would you do this? What point are you trying to prove? What are you trying to do?”
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Surveillance video shared with NBC Chicago shows vandals in two separate vehicles. He said they egged his house and threw a firework causing a fire and explosion in his front yard. Bartz's entire family was home at the time.
“I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I said wow, that sounded awfully close,” he said. “I cam out in front and that’s when I noticed some of the stuff was burnt.”
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Bartz showed NBC Chicago the damage left behind along Surrey Drive.
“Here’s where the fireworks went off right here. You could see how quick this stuff burns, this stuff burns very quickly,” he said. “Some kids ripped the conduit out here pulled all these lights.”
Bartz has installed three cameras since then as a precaution. The vandals returned this past Monday night.
“I chased them, but they got off in time, but they tried doing it again the second time three days after the first,” he said.
While Bartz isn’t going to let this ruin his Christmas, he hopes this will be the last time.
“People in this world are horrible,” he said. “Why make it worst why? What did you do it for? That’s what I want to ask these kids why. What did you get out of it?”
Tinley Park police said an investigation into the vandalism is underway.
