St. Thomas teen charged with trespassing following social media ‘door knock’ trend

A young man reading messages on his phone. (Finn Hafemann/Getty Images/iStockphoto)

St. Thomas, Ont., police say that they are investigating a string of incidents that took place in the early morning hours of Saturday that may have been spurred by a social media trend.

Several residents in the city reported that a person had kicked their door, with some believing the incident was an attempted break and enter.

The trend known as the ‘TikTok door knock challenge,’ involves people banging on the door of a home very loudly, or kicking it hard, which has been known to cause damage to property, and can be scary for homeowners.

One St. Thomas resident contacted police on Saturday following such an incident and told them that her husband had followed a suspect who was caught on camera wearing a balaclava, kicking the door, and stealing something off their porch.

Police located a 13-year-old boy nearby, who indicated that he was responsible for two other similar incidents.

The police charged the teen with attempted break and enter (three counts), trespass by night (three counts), theft under $5000 and disguise with intent.

Police received more than a dozen calls about similar incidents. Video showed the youth alongside two other people at at least one additional residence. Police believe that all of the incidents involved the same people, however they are still investigating.

If the same thing happened at your home, please contact St. Thomas police.