Lots of background here but it’s all relevant imo.
I have lived in my house for ten years. When I moved in and met my neighbors to the east of my house I immediately found them odd. The family consisted of the father, we’ll call him Kevin (all names changed); the mother Svetlana (Russian, heavy accent); the children Anatoly and Sergei; and Svetlana’s parents who are Russian and don’t speak English. In my first encounter with them Kevin told me he was from Boston, which is where I am from, but I detected a slight unidentifiable accent. I said something about the Red Sox winning the world series and he seemed confused. I also mentioned one of my kids playing tee ball and he didn’t know what tee ball was. I asked him where he was from originally and he stuck with Boston. Odd, but OK he doesn’t want me to know where’s he’s from for some reason, whatever.
Anatoly and Sergei were totally unsupervised (note to long-time OOT readers: yes, these are the Russian kids next door). At like age six they were setting off firecrackers in the street. They also once got their hands on some dry ice and were making explosions in their pool. Again, whatever, differing parenting styles right?
A few years ago we started getting misdelivered mail with a very unusual name on it with their address. Around this time I also saw Kevin a few blocks from our houses, dressed to go out for a run (the whole getup), getting into an Uber. So that was weird. I can’t remember when it became clear, but at some point I Googled the unusual name on the misdelivered mail we kept getting and realized that Kevin had changed his name. The guy went from a name like “Kevin Anderson” to “Lamborghini Onassis”. That’s the closest approximation I can give of the name he chose without telling you the name, but trust me it’s very close. It’s absolutely bonkers. So then it became clear that Kevin (Lamborghini?) didn’t live in the house anymore. Also I ran into Svetlana a couple of times at different times - morning, evening, etc, and she was clearly drunk at each of these times.
So then she posted an “ad” on our Nextdoor page looking for people to rent rooms in her house. What I’m going to say now is going to make me sound like an asshole, but this is a pretty upscale neighborhood. Renting rooms in your house is pretty unusual. But I figure at this point that Kevin peaced out, decided he was no longer married suburban dad Kevin Anderson and was now Lamborghini Onassis, international man of mystery, and that things were very rough for Svetlana and the rest of the family.
Right after this a weird guy starts playing basketball at a hoop at the end of our cul-de-sac something like 8 hours a day, basically right next to our house. Literally he would shoot hoops, alone, for hours and hours and hours. Sometimes starting at 6AM, sometimes ending at 11PM. It was super-weird and annoying because it was “thump thump thump” all damn day and night. I correctly deduced that he was renting a room. Also, I (it turns out correctly) felt like there was something wrong with the guy, based on the basketball and just the overall vibe. So I never went over to suggest he take it to one of the two parks in easy walking distance basketball courts at them.
About a month or so ago I came home around 6PM and there were cops everywhere in my neighborhood. Entrance to the cul-de-sac was blocked by four cruisers and there was a police helicopter overhead. Hard to explain but there were also a ton of cops in front of my house as well. I freaked out because my kids were home alone, but they were oblivious. Anyway, “basketball guy” had gone crazy in Svetlana’s house, smashed up a bunch of stuff, and beat his own head against a mirror. He was in cuffs on the back of a cruiser, covered in blood. I learned this from Svetlana, who was absolutely shitfaced when I talked to her.
OK, finally, we have now on multiple occasions noticed the younger sibling, Sergei, driving around/in-and-out our neighborhood alone. He’s the same age as my older child, so 14 or 15. We know that because they were in school together and one of my kids follows him on instagram and his 14th birthday party was within the last year. Also on his instagram are many pictures of him with guns in their house and firing guns at a range.
Today I see one of their cars out on the street is super-smashed up. Whether that’s Svetlana’s or Sergei’s doing doesn’t really matter, it concerns me either way.
I feel bad about whatever life cirumstances have contributed to this, but I’m concerned about the driving, the guns, and the basic breakdown that appears to be happening roughly 20 feet from my home. Not sure exatly what I’d tell the police, I guess they’d be most interested in the driving situation. But they should probably know there are guns in the house being handled by unsupervised children.
I welcome any thoughts anyone has, thanks for reading!