A San Diego homeowner is facing more than $2,000 in repairs after a hooded stranger targeted her house with a viral TikTok stunt.
Tracy Van De Walker, a resident of Ocean Beach, said the bizarre visitor arrived at her Newport Avenue home shortly after 10 p.m. Last Friday. Her husband was asleep inside when the attack on their front door began.
“He just heard a loud noise, pounding,” Van De Walker told ABC 10. Surveillance video shows the hooded figure approaching the house, with several bikes visible in the background. He turns around, lifts his leg and appears to deliver several kicks to the front door before running away.
The door frame took the beating, with plaster crumbling around the entrance. Van De Walker said the damage has left her shaken and facing substantial repair costs.
“When somebody compromises the security of your house, it’s very disturbing and alarming,” she said. “I’m already thinking over $2,000 in damage.”
The stunt is part of the so-called “Door Kick Challenge,” an increasingly aggressive spin on the classic ding-dong-ditch prank that has circulated on TikTok and other platforms. Similar incidents have been popping up since 2023, with pranksters escalating their tactics beyond simple kicks.
Previous stunts have involved kicking doors and using e-bikes to ram them. In 2024, someone in Coronado added fireworks to the recipe, setting off a display before ringing a doorbell. Then last October, video captured a vandal kicking in a door in Lemon Grove while another person filmed the whole thing.
Now Ocean Beach has joined the dubious club. The trend has spread across Southern California neighborhoods, leaving property damage and frightened residents in its wake.
For Van De Walker, the joke comes with a very unfunny price tag and a front door that may need serious intervention. She has not indicated whether police have identified any suspects in the Friday night incident.