Flat Tires In Lake Tahoe: California Town Terrorized By Ninja Stars

The California town of South Lake Tahoe has been terrorized by ninja stars — although nobody is throwing the weapons like you might see in movies or television. Caltrops, spikes closely resembling ninja stars, have been left across town, puncturing some 100 tires, reported the Tahoe Daily Tribune last week.

A tire center in town told the Daily Tribune they're seeing about two or three cases per day. The total number in town has been approaching 100 over the past month or so, the paper reported.

"We’ve probably seen about 30 cases at this point," said James Velazquez, manager at Lilly’s Tire Services in town to the Daily Tribune. "I did the first service call by Sierra House Elementary School."

Since those first cases, citizens have seemingly been learning which areas of town to avoid, where the apparent hotbeds for the pranksters carrying out ninja strikes on tires.

"This is out of the norm, we haven’t had activity like this before, and this is vindictive," said Officer Doug Sentell of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department, according to KHTK, a CBS affiliated radio station in Sacramento, California.

It's on the minds of people in the city of about 21,000 people, as driver Monika Taboada detailed to the Daily Tribune. "I went to pick up my daughter from the high school at the upper parking lot. I pulled up and stopped, and as soon as I rolled down the window to signal my daughter, I heard this hissing sound," said Taboada. "In my head I’m like, 'Please don’t be a ninja star.'"

The apparent pranks aren't harmless. Replacing a tire can cost about $100-$200, on average. But, more importantly, puncturing a driver's tire can be incredibly dangerous.

Another driver, who had her tire punctured while out running errands, said the caltrops are the same color as the pavement and hard to spot.

"I kept hearing a thumping noise, and when I walked to the back of my car, air was just pouring out of the tire," Kimmi Phelps told KHTK. "The first thing I thought was dang it, they got me."