At a West Hollywood apartment complex, neighbors who once exchanged warm greetings are now walking in and out of their homes cautiously.
“I just try to keep my blinders on and avoid him,” said Michael Proctor who lives at the complex. “(I try) not speak with him, pretend he’s not there.”
Proctor is talking about one of his neighbors whom he says everyone in the building is afraid of.
“He smashed our plants against the wall, broke glass onto the sidewalk and chased people literally into the streets,” Proctor explained.
Recently, security footage captured the man violently banging on a neighbor’s door with what appeared to be a crowbar. Another video shows the man, shirtless, pounding on the same door.
Neighbors said the man, who has lived in the building for two years, was once friendly, but something changed a few months ago.
“The last three months is really when it started being really terrible,” said Proctor. “(He’s been) destroying his apartment. I can only describe it as if you can imagine a sledgehammer being taken to every wall in his building.”
That timeline aligns with when the building’s owner said she served him an eviction notice for unpaid rent.
She declined to speak on camera but said he was supposed to leave by March 15. When he didn’t, she filed for a sheriff lockout, which is expected next week.
Until then, the building owner said there’s little she can do, adding it’s up to the people living in the building to press charges, something they are unwilling to do.
“The reason why we haven’t is because we don’t have much faith that we are going to do anything, and we have to live next to him,” said Proctor.
The latest incident happened Friday when NBC Los Angeles crews were outside the complex as the man was seen breaking a window in his apartment. Sheriff’s patrols were seen in the area shortly after.
NBCLA reached out to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department for comment on the case but has not heard back.
In response, the city of West Hollywood said it’s looking into the matter and reiterated people living in the building needed to press charges.
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