East Metro Vandals Targeting Car Windows, Mirrors With Pellet Guns
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Officers in the east metro are putting their heads together to try and stop some repeat car vandals.
More than 40 car windows were shot out in Stillwater. Fifteen were hit in Hudson, Wisconsin. The vandals also hit Oak Park Heights and Lakeland.
Kris Best, of Stillwater, was stunned to hear the news on Tuesday.
"I'm flabergasted, to happen in Stillwater, you never hear anything like that," she said.
Police officers agree.
Sgt. Steve Hansen of Stillwater Police Department called the vandalism "highly unusual."
Someone took a BB gun to car windows.
"Appears to be just stupidity here and random acts," Hansen said. "They are just driving around, and no one's specifically targeted."
But a lot of cars took a shot.
One of those cars belongs to WCCO photojournalist Tony Peterson.
"We're normally doing stories about other people, now to be part of the story is kind of a bummer, but it's life I guess," he said.
The proud Stillwater resident was heading to church Sunday morning when he realized something was missing.
"I looked up and down the street, there were about five cars with their windows busted out and I looked over and this was one of them, and I thought, 'Oh gosh, come on," Peterson said.
Hansesn says the vandalism is a felony crime.
"That random act of property crime and violence, we can't tolerate that here, it's just stupidity," he said.
Anyone with information on the vandalism is asked to call Stillwater police at 651-351-4900.