WILKES-BARRE A pack of teenagers allegedly pelted a vehicle with a flurry of rocks before threatening the driver with a lead pipe, moments after the group vandalized a nearby South Wilkes-Barre business.

Steve Taren, owner of Wet Paint Printing & Design at 152 Horton St., said he recently witnessed a group of about 10 teenagers bending and ripping up about $2,000 worth of shrubs along the length of the building.Last year, Taren, 57, purchased and revitalized the 100-year-old abandoned woodworking warehouse to house the new location of his graphic and design business.Taren said he had seen the teens in the neighborhood before and believed they attended Meyers High School.Kimberly Rock, who at the time was picking up her son, Wet Paint employee Brian Casbeer, witnessed the vandalism and pursued the group on foot in an attempt to photograph them. One member of the group, who Rock said ranged from ages 8 to 18, appeared to be carrying a steel or lead pipe.Rock said she was simply trying to let the teens know they had just destroyed private property."I got out of the car and said 'that's vandalism guys. Somebody planted those. What are you thinking,'" she said.Watching from inside the vehicle, Casbeer, 25, said "we went to see what the kids looked like and where they were going, then they turned around and threw rocks at us."Rock, a Berwick resident, was able to snap several pictures on her smartphone, but was met with verbal threats as she retreated back to her vehicle, a 2013 Chrysler 200."The youngest started bouncing in front of me saying 'C'mon (expletive), come at me. What do you want to do about it,'" she said. Rock said he was the one who began throwing rocks at her and eventually at the vehicle, which suffered "baseball-sized" dents and a cracked rear windshield as a result.The teens didn't seem embarrassed about what had happened either, Rock said, nor were they in a hurry to flee the scene after she called 911. Even when they cracked the car window they casually kept on walking, she said."I think they developed a gang mentality walking together," she said.Though the entire incident lasted only 10 minutes, Rock said she was in disbelief that things went that far."Because the youngest was the most bold, I think that really tripped my mind out," she said. "It was a surreal type of moment."Around 20 minutes later, an officer arriving on the scene attempted to track down the group before being called to another incident, Rock said.