Just another teen prank, or something more serious?

Monkey business in Agoura Hills



BOO!—An artist’s conception of the monkey man frightening residents.

BOO!—An artist’s conception of the monkey man frightening residents.

Teens, at least presumably they’re teens, are playing a dangerous game in Agoura Hills.

During the past month, some Agoura Hills residents have been startled out of a deep sleep by the sound of banging on the their home doors and windows.

Bruce Grant, who lives on Jon Dodson Drive north of Reyes Adobe Park, was awakened on Feb. 15 at about 12:40 a.m. by the loud noises, so loud that he grabbed a firearm for protection as he rushed downstairs to see what the commotion was about. The banging caused the door to vibrate so hard that it sounded like a drum roll, he said.

“I was about to fly out the door but my wife stopped me,” Grant said.

Instead, he reciprocated and pounded right back.

Grant figured the perpetrators would get the hint and run away, but the two people who were outside causing the ruckus made it their goal to be seen wearing the goofy costumes. They approached the home’s living room window and came face to face with Grant.

What he saw was two people— both just under 6 feet tall—and one dressed in a full monkey suit and the other wearing an eerie human mask resembling the kind used in the scary movie, “The Purge.” He thought they were probably male teens.

Officer Jamie Green of Lost Hills Sheriff Station said the incident isn’t the first time the department has received calls about local kids dressed in monkey suits and banging on doors and windows in the middle of the night. Green said the station received a similar call several weeks ago and that the pranksters were last seen running away.

Deputies searched the Agoura Hills neighborhood following the Grant incident, but saw nobody lurking in the shadows dressed as a monkey.

Green added that while only two perpetrators came to the Grant home, there could have be others pulling the same prank nearby.

“I would think that they’re teens, but you never know these days,” Green said, adding that it was fortunate no weapons were discharged during the incident.

Grant has two children in college and one in middle school. He knows a thing or two about childhood behavior and called his Feb. 15 encounter “a modern version of ding, dong, ditch.”

In this well- worn prank, kids knock on a door or ring a doorbell and run away before the owner comes to the door.

Grant believes that the monkey man gag—probably inspired by Hollywood’s “Planet of the Apes” and “Purge” movie franchises—brings the game to a dangerous new level.

“If you run into the wrong old man who’s going through post-traumatic stress, then they could have gotten shot,” he said.

At least he kept his sense of humor.

“If I shot them, would I be charged with shooting an endangered animal or manslaughter?” he asked.

If the next incident ends in a tragedy, it’s likely nobody will be laughing.


 

 

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