Police: At Least 9 Vehicles Targeted By Vandals At Pittsburgh Auto Show
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Sliced leather seats, dents, chipped paint and a slashed tire.
That's just some of the long list of vandalism that occurred this weekend at the Pittsburgh Auto Show, according to police.
Police tell KDKA that criminals targeted at least nine vehicles, and show officials think it happened sometime on Saturday afternoon.
More than half of the Mitsubishi cars on the floor incurred some sort of damage, according to John Putzier, CEO of the Pittsburgh Automobile Dealers Association.
"It's really a little bit of everything," said Putzier. "We got damaged upholstery, I just saw a Mercedes with a stalk on the steering wheel pulled off and we had one tire slashed."
Putzier said the vandals did not just target one make or model, but instead targeted Buick, Ford, Mitsubishi and Subaru vehicles.
"We don't know if it's one person or several people," said Putzier. "I haven't even seen the footage on the camera yet, and I'm meeting with the general manager as soon as we're done here."
Watch Meghan Schiller's report --
On Monday afternoon, Putzier and Convention Center officials examined hours of video, thinking it occurred while the auto show was open.
"It makes me mad because our manufacturers spent a lot of money to be here, and we staff it with a lot of people," Putzier said, "and to be able to do that during the show is amazing to me."
Among the cars taking a hit -- Ford, Suburu and Buick -- but the biggest victim was Jim Shorkey Mitsubishi.
It's hard not to know the motto of the Jim Shorkey Auto Group – "It's a Great Day."
But Saturday was hardly a great day as Shorkey Mitsubishi in North Huntingdon suffered the most vandalism at the Convention Center.
Six of their seven vehicles on display were vandalized, says General Manager Sean Rattigan.
"There were some scratches there. I think one of the gas doors were damaged. Some of the touch screen had some damage to it as well," Rattigan told KDKA money editor Jon Delano on Monday.
Rattigan says the vehicles will be returned, repaired and sold for thousands of dollars less.
Delano: "Any notion at all that this was targeted?"
Rattigan: "I can't really speak to that. Not certain."
As to whom the vandals were, the Convention Center manager Tim Muldoon told KDKA they were still reviewing video from cameras at the event.
But Rattigan says it won't deter Shorkey Mitsubishi from returning to the auto show next year.
"It's definitely beneficial, and we'll go down next year, too. We"ll do it again," he said.
The Pittsburgh Police Department asks anyone who has information related to this apparent act of vandalism to contact them at (412) 255-2827.
