Windows smashed on 8 vehicles on Northwest Side, Chicago police say

ByABC7 Chicago Digital Team and Stephanie Wade WLS logo
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 8:54PM

NW Side residents wake up to find cars broken into
Chicago police are investigating more than half a dozen vehicle break-ins.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Eight vehicles had their windows smashed on the Northwest Side Tuesday morning, Chicago police said.

The owners were very surprised when they woke up to see broken glass on the ground and their windows smashed.

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"It's kind of shocking to see all these windows smashed like this, so it's kind of uneasy," Francisco Ortega, whose car was broken into, said.

The windows of their cars and trucks were busted out and items stolen inside.

"Pretty unfortunate, it's a good area," Juan Valenzuela, whose truck was broken into, said. "I didn't expect this."

Surveillance video shows three suspects going car to car near Nordica and Waveland avenues around 2 a.m.

The video shows the thieves zero in on Juan Valenzuela's truck and use a tool to break through the window.

"All my papers, personal papers are all over the place," Valenzuela said. "Whatever valuable things they could find, I'm pretty sure they took."

The crew then moves to Francisco Ortega's car. One person enters through the passenger side door, pops the trunk, and begins their spree.

"I'm on my way to work right at the moment and I just see my wife's trunk open, so I get her and say 'Hey, did you leave your car open?' and she was like 'What do you mean?' and I ran outside to see what was wrong and then I checked inside and it was basically ransacked and they just moved around things," Ortega said. "They really didn't take much. The good thing was she didn't have no windows smashed. It was a good day to leave it unlocked, right?"

Chicago police said suspects broke into eight parked vehicles in the 3600-3800 blocks of North Nordica Avenue before driving off in a dark colored sedan.

Owners were left feeling violated and a long list of expenses to fix.

"A lot of damage," Valenzuela said. "Now I've got to get it fixed and call insurance to get it fixed."

"You hardly see any cops here because there's nothing happening here," Ortega said. "So maybe there should be a little bit more presence here to keep the neighborhood a little safer."

Some people have put covers around their windows in place of the broken glass while Chicago police are still investigating.

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