News

Somerville man's truck and home vandalized for the second time

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — A Somerville man had his truck and home vandalized for the second time this weekend at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Marty Tompkins is a proud Trump supporter - and expresses that by putting Pro-Trump bumper stickers on his car.

While his car was parked in front of his home on Beacon Street, vandals spray-painted the letters "BLM," the acronym for "Black Lives Matter," across the hood of Tompkin's car.

Thick red spray paint was used in an attempt to cover up his stickers and paint hateful messages all over his car.

The front of the Tompkin's house was also vandalized with spray-paint with a threat that reads "Trump is Next."

He says this isn't the first time he's been targeted for his political preferences - and it's starting to take a toll on his finances, as well. "I only have the basic insurance on the vehicle," Tompkins said. "So all repairs are out of my own out-of-pocket expense."

With only basic insurance, Tompkins says the clean-up won't come cheap.

"$400 for the windshield and then all my hard work cleaning it," Tompkins said.

He believes the same person has been targeting his car.

"He thinks he's having fun," Tompkins said. "First time I caught him, he was in the back of the truck and I called him a little girl and that’s why he came back. Second time he only broke the windshield and wrote on it with a magic marker and this time he came back for a paint job."

The first incident regarding anti-Trump vandalism happened last month at the same location, and both incidents are under investigation.

The Somerville News Weekly reports that, according to sources at the scene, this incident has been reported to the United States Secret Service as it is now considered a matter of national security given the threat made to the President.

"Even if you dislike the president, that’s no way to act [like] you know both sides of the aisle, there are a lot of contentious issues out there but don’t resort to vandalism and don’t resort to violence," Tompkins said.

Somerville Police said they are unable to comment until Monday.