Video shows kids disturbing Fort Myers homeowners in Tik Tok challenge

Fort Myers police are putting neighbors on notice after multiple reports of a disturbing social media challenge coming to their front doors.

“Is the Tik Tok challenge worth your life? I guess that’s probably the best way to look at it,” Doctor David Thomas said, Professor of forensic studies at FGCU.

“You hear a loud bang, bang, bang on your door or your window. And you open the door and you see kids running away and jumping in a car and driving off,” Kevin explained.

Kevin is one of the victims of this challenge who’s captured several of these incidents on his surveillance cameras. For many nights, his family doesn’t know if they’re victims of a home invasion.

“It seems like it feels like that because they’re showing up on our property with ski masks. They’re disguising themselves. They’re banging on the door. It’s close to midnight, on the weekends or during the week now because school’s out. It’s very concerning,” Kevin said.

Thomas says these kids could eventually try this at the wrong house, leading to one of them getting hurt — or worse.

“If I’m knocking on the door and running or ringing a doorbell and running like, you know, we did as kids, that’s one thing,” Thomas said, “But now if I’m putting my foot to that door, and I’m trying to come in and if you have a video of a video camera or you have a ring doorbell or doorbell that records, you literally can see the action that the person is perpetrating at that door.”

He says masked people trying to kick in your door in the middle of the night is a recipe for disaster.

If someone feels like their life is in imminent danger, the homeowner could be justified in defending their family with force.

“If I’m a mom or dad and I’m watching this story, then it’s time to pull little Davey down and have this conversation with him and say, ‘I hope you’re not doing this. Because, you know, you can lose your life over it,'” Thomas said.

“They are putting themselves in harm’s way. Yeah. If it continues, somebody potentially could get hurt,” Kevin said.

Fort Myers Police say they’ve received a number of calls about this happening along the McGregor corridor over the last few months. They ask that you call them at (239) 321-7700 if you know who the kids are.