An 81-year-old accused of being a ‘serial slingshot shooter’ is charged after years of alleged vandalism, police say

For about a decade, the residents of a Los Angeles County neighborhood have been bedeviled by mysteriously shattered windows, cracked windshields and near misses from tiny projectiles, all allegedly at the hands of an elderly neighbor who police are calling a “serial slingshot shooter.”

For about a decade, the residents of a Los Angeles County neighborhood have been bedeviled by mysteriously shattered windows, cracked windshields and near misses from tiny projectiles, all allegedly at the hands of an 81-year-old neighbor who police are calling a “serial slingshot shooter.” The suspect, Prince King, was arrested in Azusa, California, last week after a “lengthy investigation” revealed he had been pestering the community for 9 to 10 years, ultimately causing as much as $10,000 in damage, according to the Azusa Police Department. After years of sporadic vandalism reports, a sergeant noticed some similarities in the incidents and began to dig deeper. “What we had here was more than just random acts of vandalism,” police Lt. Robert Chivas told CNN. Investigators determined a person “broke windows, windshields and almost stuck people with ball bearings” over the years, police said in an online post. King is accused of carrying out the acts and has been charged with five counts of felony vandalism and two counts of misdemeanor vandalism, according to the criminal complaint from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He has pleaded not guilty. “During the course of our investigation and surveillance, we did observe Mr. King commit a crime, which was firing a ball bearing from the sling shot,” Chivas said.