When one tenant's child damaged another tenant's vehicle?

[Alison P.]

Last night I got a call from a tenant who saw his neighbor's child stomping all over the hood of his truck and has done quite a bit of damage.  He had suspected something was going on so the day before had put up a security camera and caught it all on camera.  There is a twist though. This is on a mobile home park that I recently purchased.  The mobile where the child lives had a back door that was screwed shut because it was in such bad shape.  2 weeks ago I had a new back door installed to the tune of around $400 (it had to be a special order). The tenant has young autistic twin boys, who are very hard to control.  As soon as the back door was installed, the boys quickly figured out how to unlock it and started to escape and run off. I was told by another of the tenants that they kept going over to hers. At this point she didn't mind so I didn't pursue it.  Not once have I been contacted by the mother of the boys to tell me there is an issue.  BUT now they have willfully damaged a pretty expensive pickup truck belonging to another neighbor.  He called me last night to let me know what had happened and that he had filed a police report but couldn't get a hold of the mother because she was working.

The mother works all hours and the boys are being looked after by their teenage sister.

My question is: Is any of this my responsibility?  I don't feel like I have any responsibility for this tenant's children and that it is wholly her responsibility to control her children and pay for the damage.  I did my due diligence by making sure they had a safe exit to use in the case of an emergency. I haven't yet contacted the mother and don't know if I should get involved at this stage or try and stay out of it.  Surely it's between the mother and the man who's truck her children damaged.

I would appreciate any advice, opinions, comments. Thank you.

[Mark H.]

@Alison P. I wouldn't get in the middle of the truck damage itself, but I would consider looking through your lease and sending a notice of violation. If nothing else, this will give you a history for if/when you have to evict them.