HOUSTON — Residents who live near Houston ISD's Austin High School said they're upset that kids are leaving school and then causing mayhem in their neighborhood.
They said they are breaking into homes and even stealing cars but police aren't taking the situation seriously.
One resident said she caught the teens red-handed with a screwdriver they used to break into vehicles.
"These guys have been breaking into cars for two days," Fernanda De Santos said.
The Second Ward resident confronted the teens and recorded the incident on her phone. She said it happened after the kids cut class.
"We're not next to a prison, we are next to a school," she said. "They should be learning and not doing this."
She said she thinks the teens have been skipping school to commit crimes and is concerned things might escalate into something more than burglary.
In another video, one of De Santos' neighbors confronted a group of teens right as they were about to enter an elderly woman's home.
"A lot of people in Texas are armed. They protect their property. What if one of the kids gets shot one day?" De Santos said.
She said most of the action is happening during school hours and it's not just criminal behavior she's noticed.
"They are in the love age. They come over here and share some passion," she said.
She said she's caught some of them having sex in public.
She's speaking out because she's frustrated. She said that when officers showed up after the vehicle break-ins, they didn't even take a police report. Instead, they just took the kids back to campus.
"What they are doing is a crime, first of all," she said.
After repeated calls to law enforcement, De Santos said officers returned to investigate. She said the lack of concern among law enforcement has her and her neighbors feeling vulnerable.
"It doesn't give me any security. I want my neighbors to be safe. There are a lot of seniors that live here," she said.
Neither HISD nor the Harris County Precinct 6 Constable's Office, which patrols the area, responded to requests for comment on the situation.