Historic Loudon courthouse, cars vandalized

(WBIR-Loudon) Police are investigating more than a dozen broken windows in downtown Loudon Friday, including some at the historic Loudon County Courthouse.

"All concentrated in the downtown area. Doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason for it-- pretty random," said detective Brian Jenkins.

He said they all occurred overnight Thursday into Friday, with a dozen cars hit by these vandals, as well as three windows on the courthouse's bottom floor, and the drive thru window at the courthouse annex. That's where the County Clerk provides service for customers who need to renew license plate tags.

"Very inconvenient for us because we have the long lines, and we can't use the drive thru window today, and a lot of customers use the drive thru window," said Loudon County Clerk Darlene Russell.

Four of the cars hit belonged to residents, one was a police cruiser and a sixth belonged to the county.

Detective Jenkins believes it could be kids or teens.

"They're going to say something to one of their friends or someone's parent. At some point, someone's going to overhear something, and we'd really appreciate it if they can contact us," Detective Jenkins added.

The cost of the damage is more than $1,500. Jenkins believed the windows at the courthouse could be more than $500, meaning felony charges could be filed.

Meanwhile, the bigger question on people's minds: why?

"It's upsetting someone would do that, to our courthouse," Russell said.

If you have any information on this vandalism, contact Loudon Police at (865) 408-0412.