Several homes and cars vandalized in Hazlet

HAZLET, N.J. (WABC) -- A shocking sight for some people in New Jersey, they came home from the holiday weekend and found cars and homes vandalized.

The vehicles and buildings were spray painted with disturbing images and words.

"I've been living here 51 years. Never, never anything like this. They hit so many houses," a resident said.

16 houses were spray-painted with explicit symbols that homeowners spent hours trying to remove. Once done, the damage is still there.

"You can still see the black, it took the paint off," a resident said.

Gary Concepcion's car was sprayed with a tacky black substance.

"What it looks like, they just spray painted something here, and as I scrub it off, its taking the car paint off as well," Concepcion said.

Concepcion also had to scrub paint off his house. Next door, Charlie Coutu's daughter's Volvo was marked with the same graffiti.

"It's sad. You wonder what motivates people to do such a terrible thing," Coutu said.

License plates and fences were also hit. Police say it happened between Saturday night and early Sunday morning, most likely by juveniles, they say, committing random acts of crime and not after anyone specifically.

"I don't think so. We haven't found a link that would lead us to believe that people were targeted for any reason," said Det. Lt. Ted Wittke, of Hazlet Police.

There is thousands of dollars in damage altogether, which makes this a serious case of criminal mischief. Victor Burgos just moved there, and had just fixed his place up.

"At least they didn't destroy it. I have a new swing set for the kids, they could have come in and wrecked the place," Burgos said.

Police are following leads but so far there are no arrests, but plenty of surprise in this quiet neighborhood.

"You just don't see this. This is definitely a shock to me, and I'm sure a shock to people in the area," a resident said.