After months of mystery, Cougar Mountain residents have turned to police to find out who is purposefully plaguing their roadways with hundreds of nails.

Resident Jo-Ellen Smith said that she has encountered roofing nails spread randomly in the bike lanes along those roads. “This is perilous to drivers and even more so to the main cyclists who train on these roads,” she said.

Beginning in May, residents, drivers and cyclists have been countering scores of roofing nails on both 168th Place S.E. and S.E. 60th Street.

Close to two dozen people have experienced flat tires after driving in the area, and neighbors are collecting nails on daily walks. Signs that neighbors put up to warn drivers about the nails are repeatedly being torn down, said Smith.

The community thought the issue had resolved itself at the beginning of the summer, only to have the nails begin littering the roadways again over the last few weeks.

“Hundreds of nails at a time don’t just fall off of a work truck, so we do believe it’s intentional,” said Bellevue Police spokeswoman Amanda Jensen.

The Bellevue Police are unsure if the target are cars, cyclists, or pedestrians, said Jensen. But, they are now investigating the possibility that the nails are being spread by a community member who is unhappy about planned expansion at the Open Window School, which adjoins both roads.

The vandalism has reportedly been largely relegated to the two streets, which connect and wrap around the school’s campus. Staff members and families of children who attend the school have reported nails in their tires, but the school does not feel they are being specifically targeted, said Jeff Stroebel, head of the Open Window school.

“We are currently asking the City of Bellevue to approve an increase in our enrollment capacity, but the nail drops preceded our request by several months, so we do not feel that they are related,” he said. “The community notice of our application just went up on August 6; the first reports of nails being dropped were in early May.”

While many residents suspected the nails were initially targeted at the large amounts of cyclists training in the area during the summer, Smith said she wouldn’t discount the vandalism being targeted at the school.

“I wouldn’t discount that theory, I wouldn’t discount anything at this time,” she said. “There have been ongoing issues since the school was built with the volume of traffic and speeding.”

The police department has checked the school’s security cameras, but has been unable to pinpoint a perpetrator, said Jensen. At this point, they are exploring other options while asking the community to come together and share information.

Residents have taken to the app NextDoor to track nail sightings, in hopes of catching the person responsible.

Until then, Stroebel said the school shares the frustration of the neighborhood.

“Most of the drops have been on weekends, so members of the Cougar Mountain neighborhood have felt the brunt of the damage.  We have done a sweep of the road the last several Mondays and found a few nails, but most are being picked up on the weekend,” he said.

The investigation is ongoing, and police urge anyone with information to come forward.