Dallas ‘nail bandit’ scattered thousands of roofing nails, aggravating neighbors

They found them in clumps, on busy streets and intersections. Other times, they were strewn across the street, as if someone had simply tossed them from a car. Roofing nails — thousands at a time — have for the past few weeks turned up in some of Dallas’ most posh neighborhoods, including University Park, Highland Park and Preston Hollow. Neighbors would pick up nails, only to see more return a couple hours later. “There were tons of them,” said Laila Dolle, who lives in Preston Hollow. “It was clearly very deliberate.” Plano police on Saturday arrested a suspect in the so-called nail bandit case. Kevin Genter, a 45-year-old Grand Prairie man, was arrested at Toyota headquarters after shots were fired in the parking lot.

“The first time we found nails, we assumed it was just an accident,” said Russell, adding that it quickly became evident that it was not. Witnesses said they saw someone drive away in a dark-colored sedan, which matched a description of a car that reportedly dropped several nails around the headquarters parking lot twice last week. Highland Park police spokeswoman Lt. Jessa Russell said police have not yet identified a motive yet. On social media, residents said they found nails on Hillcrest and Preston roads, and Mockingbird, Royal and Park lanes. Many reported flat tires in recent weeks, and others avoided driving on major thoroughfares. One man found an empty discarded tub of nails.