‘Vampires’ Burn Church, Police Say

Four teenagers claiming to be vampires went on a drug-crazed rampage, vandalizing dozens of cars and homes, spray-painting racial slurs and burning a church, police said.

Fascinated by the occult, the teens smoked methamphetamine-laced marijuana before going on a spree through the quiet middle-class neighborhood and causing $300,000 in damage Thursday, officers said.

The fire destroyed the office and fellowship hall at Bethany Lutheran Church. Its outside walls were scrawled with satanic graffiti in pink and white paint.

“My sadness is not for us. It is for those people who don’t know the joy of life,” said Pastor Carol Spencer, whose church is in the mostly white, middle-class neighborhood of Lake Highlands.

More than a dozen residents found tires slashed, windows broken and racial slurs spray-painted on doors and walls. An elementary school also was hit with graffiti.

An acid used to treat swimming pools was spread on cars.

The Dallas Morning News reported that one teen told detectives that he and the others were vampires. The teenagers had marks on their arms from sucking one another’s blood, the newspaper reported.

Evidence from the fire quickly led authorities to the nearby home of a 16-year-old boy.

He, Brandon Lee Ramsey, 18, Charles Randal Kinnard, 19, and a 17-year-old boy were arrested on arson charges.

The 17-year-old was released on $4,500 bond, and the others remained in custody.

Dallas police arson Capt. Don Howard said the teens admitted lacing crystal methamphetamine with marijuana before the vandalism. He said they used Molotov cocktails and several gallons of gasoline to light the church.

Resident Jerry Hejl found all tires punctured on his three vehicles and rocks thrown through two windshields, along with racial slurs and the words “2 Foot Bong Krew” spray-painted on a mobile home.

Before their arrest, some of the teens sat in lawn chairs on top of a carport and watched as investigators went through the ruins of the church Thursday, said Deputy Fire Chief Tom Oney.

“It appeared to me that they were savoring the fruits of the damage,” he said. “They were enjoying watching us look at it.”