Southwest Houston townhome owners say they're being terrorized by 'menace' neighbor

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — People living in a southwest Houston townhome complex want one of their neighbors to get help. Records show Daniel Atnafu, 39, has been arrested 10 times in the last two years for damaging property and threatening his neighbors at the complex off Fondren. Police said he was arrested at the complex on Sunday for slashing a man's tires and threatening a woman with a gun. "

It's just really annoying," neighbor Jonathan Tegegne said. ”

He's screaming and always going back and forth with different neighbors and stuff like that." Court records show Atnafu was previously accused of hitting a dog with a wooden plank, hitting a woman with a plastic pipe, brandishing a gun in full view of a neighbor's doorbell camera, and breaking a woman's window. He was also accused of slashing tires on multiple vehicles and telling a witness he would "slice her throat."

A different woman told Eyewitness News that Atnafu has slashed 13 tires belonging to her and her family members over the last two years. He was the subject of an Eyewitness News report in 2024 when he was seen on camera harassing a complex security guard. Eyewitness News found multiple broken windows at Atnafu's home on Monday.

On the door were handwritten messages scrawled in marker reading, 'Property of Daniel Atnafu' and 'trespassers will be dealt with.' A dog could be heard barking inside. BARC told Eyewitness News that they've been in contact with Atnafu's mother, who said she's been stopping by to care for the dog.

Records show Atnafu's last three criminal cases were dismissed on the grounds that he'd already been convicted in a 2024 criminal mischief case.

In that case, he was initially given one year of deferred adjudication. A guilty verdict was rendered when prosecutors said he violated his probation terms, and in February, a judge sentenced him to one year in jail. But a review of the court order shows his sentence was set to end on the same day it began, despite the one-year term.

It came just two weeks after he racked up another criminal mischief charge. "

He's just off his rocker; he needs some help. Like mental help. He's off his rocker," Tegegne said. As happened during previous arrests, Atnafu was ordered to undergo a mental health screening after Sunday's arrest. For news updates, , X and Instagram.