VERNON – A family in Vernon woke up to their cars on fire Wednesday morning and later learned the fire was likely intentionally set.
David Bullock and Carrie Lapworth, who live along Becker Place in the Rockville section of town, woke up to their neighbor knocking on their door around 5:15am Wednesday morning. Their four-year-old son was asleep ahead of his first day of kindergarten.
The fire originated in Bullock's car, which was parked outside. It spread to Lapworth's, also parked outside, and into their garage where they were storing a friend’s car. All three cars were destroyed along with the garage before firefighters got the fire under control.
“I couldn’t believe it. The sounds, the popping of the tires, the glass, the smell, it’s just ingrained,” said Lapworth.
Bullock said, “It’s a privacy thing. They came down and they took something from me.”
Investigators believe someone set the car on fire. Several other cars in the area were damaged by vandals during the same time frame. Police are investigating if the crimes are linked.
Lapworth said, “That’s just something I can’t comprehend is how it would be fun to cause this much damage to somebody else.”
Only one of the cars is insured for this specific type of damage. The family is now struggling to come up with a down payment for a new car.
“It’s just unbelievable that somebody could do something like that and you just lose everything,” said Lapworth.
Bullock’s sister set up a GoFundMe page to help them move forward from this setback.
Bullock said, “We can put our lives back together. Right now we’re kind of down and out for a couple days until we go car shopping.”
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Vernon Police Department at 860-872-9126.
