Patterson Park Neighborhood Hit By Rash Of Robberies
BALTIMORE (WJZ)— One Baltimore community is on high alert after more than 15 break-ins. Some of them occurred while the victims were sleeping in their homes.
Weijia Jiang has more on the burglaries and what police are doing to stop them.
The suspected burglar came in through the window. Now 77-year-old Jane Grim says she's scared to go to bed after she says someone broke into her house on North Luzerne Street in the middle of the night.
"I think of them coming in, breaking in and going upstairs or something where I'm sleeping," Grim said.
Grim says by the time she came downstairs, the burglar had escaped with a video game console, two cameras, and $300 in cash.
"I been here 50 years. It's the first time it ever happened," she said.
But it's part of a rash of burglaries in the Patterson Park neighborhood.
Police say 16 cases have been reported in the past 28 days.
Police believe it's a group of kids behind the burglaries, so they've stepped up patrols to enforce the city's nighttime curfew. In the past month, they've given 90 citations.
"Just this morning I spoke with three of my neighbors on my way out to work about what they've heard, what's being done, and what we can do," said Paul Valdez, Patterson Park.
Valdez says he has seen crime go down since he moved to Patterson Park eight years ago--until now.
With five of his neighbors among the victims, Valdez wonders if he'll be next.
"We're kind of at wits end in terms of what we're gonna do about this," Valdez said.
Police aren't releasing details about how the suspects are attacking.
People who live here aren't ruling anything out.
"Don't come out at night. I have a big dog, a big one for my home. The kids, we stay together," said Brandi Shird, Patterson Park resident.
If you have any information about these burglaries, police urge you to let them know quickly.
