19 vehicles broken into, vandalized in South Philly under investigation: police
PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating after they say more than a dozen vehicles were broken into and vandalized late Sunday night.
Police say they received numerous calls after 9:30 Monday morning about broken car windows, the insides ransacked and belongings stolen. They say it occurred in the 1600 to 1800 blocks of Washington Avenue. Investigators believe it happened between 9 p.m. and 12 a.m.
A total of nineteen cars were vandalized.
"It's just sad. These people have no heart," said Griffin O’Donnell, a victim of the vandalism. "They're just going around smashing windows."
O’Donnell says he parked his car on 16th Street between Washington Avenue and Carpenter Street around 8 p.m. Sunday night.
By 9 a.m. Monday, he found the front driver's side window busted out.
"It's a pain to go get them fixed, it takes time out of my day, I gotta work and it cost money obviously," he said.
O’Donnell was back out this evening re-enforcing the tape he had put on his shattered car window earlier this morning.
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Samantha Killiany and Gabe Crouthamel were out walking their dog this evening near where some of the car vandalism happened.
"It's definitely scary and nerve-wracking. Especially living around here and it feels like an invasion of privacy and also nine is crazy," said Samantha Killiany.
"It doesn't make it feel like a safe place to be and being people who have a car here. Luckily, we're not one of the victims yet, but hopefully, things get better," said Crouthamel.
Residents hope someone or some business's security cameras captured the act.
Meanwhile, O'Donnell says nothing was taken from his car. Not even the golf clubs he had inside. He says this just happened to him two weeks ago, leaving him to pay an insurance deductible of a few hundred dollars to get it fixed then.
"I trust in the police, and hopefully they find the guy or if it's a couple of people, hopefully they find them," said O’Donnell.