Mass vandalism and thefts from vehicles spread to Linden Hills in south Minneapolis

Many residents in yet another Minneapolis neighborhood on Wednesday joined the unfortunate list of people who awoke to find windows on their vehicles smashed in possibly by people looking to steal items left inside, police and witnesses said.

In the early morning hours, one or more people smashed the windows on several vehicles parked on Linden Hills Boulevard just northwest of Lake Harriet, according to police reports.

“Several vehicles on the street and in driveways were hit/damaged,” read one police report. Another report said a resident reported to police that “all vehicles parked on Linden Hills had windows broken.”

Neither report, the only ones publicly available, disclosed whether the vandals had stolen anything from the vehicles, nor were they more specific about how many vehicles were damaged in this latest round of smash and grab that has plagued residents in many other parts of the city.

Council Member Linea Palmisano, whose ward includes Linden Hills, said the head of investigations for the Police Department’s Fifth Precinct told her Wednesday that “it’s a group of juveniles, [and] they think it’s the same group that is wreaking havoc everywhere.”

Police have announced no arrests in any of the more than 200 reported cases.

“We think we live in a bubble here, but I guess not,“ said one resident who told the Minnesota Star Tribune that she knows of ”between 20 and 30″ vehicles that were vandalized on both sides of her Linden Hills neighborhood street between W. 40th and 42nd streets. A teenager around the block had a wallet stolen from his damaged vehicle, she said.

The resident feels fortunate that she keeps her vehicle in her garage “just for the reasons of crime. ... I feel bad for the people who filled their garages with other stuff.”

Another resident whose vehicles escaped harm said her exterior video camera captured “three young guys” and a driver in a white car carrying out the misdeeds.

“They had flashlights, which I thought was a little brazen,” said the woman, who also did not want her name published. “They also tripped an alarm, but they must have figured out how to turn it off.”

She said her neighbors came out hours after the spree and saw “middle consoles were open and rummaged.”

The woman said she saw irony in the vandalism coming after her neighborhood and others celebrated the annual National Night Out.

Since mid-June, bursts of overnight vehicle vandalism and thefts were reported in northeast Minneapolis, Uptown, Loring Park and on the city’s South Side. Last month, more than 40 vehicles’ windows were smashed in hotel parking lots along E. American Boulevard in Bloomington, police said.

Minneapolis police urge anyone who has had a vehicle that was broken into to report it by calling 911 or 311, in-person at the nearest police precinct or online at the city of Minneapolis website.

Police also urged residents to check security cameras or doorbell camera footage and provide it to investigators.