Sleepy Hollow Police Alert Homeowners to Risky TikTok Trend: Teens Kicking Doors

SLEEPY HOLLOW, Ill. (WLS) — There was a new warning from local police Friday about a trend that’s taking off on social media. Teenagers are kicking in people’s doors and then running away.

The teens might think it’s just a prank, but Sleepy Hollow police say it could have serious consequences.

ABC7 spoke to one homeowner that fell victim to it.

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It was a little after 2 am. when Anne Ybarra woke up to the crashing noise in her house. At first, she thought it was a tree that had fallen on the house.

Eventually, she discovered, however, that someone had bashed in her front door. Her Ring security camera revealed four teenagers running from the scene.

“You can see kids running up to the house, the noise of them trying to break through my front door,” Ybarra said.

The teens could be heard laughing afterward on the security camera video.

Ybarra later learned she was the first of at least two victims that night. The band of teenagers hit one other home in Sleepy Hollow, police said, breaking down the front door in the middle of the night.

It may have been a prank, but police say it could have serious consequences.

“This was kids being criminal,” Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Sam Parma said. “It was not kids being kids.”

The police chief says this is apparently part of a TikTok challenge, which has been going on in cities around the country. He believes the suspects are all in their teens, and they were fortunate the homeowner didn’t meet them at the door with a gun.

In addition to the security video, police say there may be eyewitnesses as well.

Ybarra says it cost her several thousand dollars to repair the broken door, but she’s more concerned about the innocence and tranquility in her neighborhood that’s now been lost, all for a prank.

“One of the kids had a cell phone turned on, backed up the idea maybe they were doing this for a TikTok,” Ybarra said.

There was a $1,000 reward being offered for information about the suspects. The police chief says if they turn themselves in, they will be charged with misdemeanors, but if police find them first, the charge will be a felony.