Police: 33 cars broken into by thieves; items stolen

PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Philadelphia police are investigating after 33 cars were broken into in the city's Germantown section.

Shattered glass on the ground is all that's left of the window from Karima Jones' SUV after it was broken into overnight along with 32 other cars along School House Lane and Wissahickon Avenue.

"33 cars--that's insane--insane," Jones told FOX 29 Monday evening. "I feel violated. I feel as though maybe they need to put cameras around here--more lighting maybe."

"I had a bag of tools in the back. They brought the tools up front, but they didn't take them," Thomas Wilson said.

Wilson was busy Monday evening cleaning up the broken glass in his Chevy Venture van parked on School House Lane. He says fixing this won't be cheap.

Police dusted for fingerprints Monday hoping to link someone to the break-ins. Investigators say the suspects used a tool or hard object to bust out the windows, shattering glass, then rummaging through the cars for valuables.

"Handbags, school bags, laptops , GPS systems, change--anything that they could see in the vehicles," Northwest Detectives Lt. Daniel Brooks explained.

"To come out and see your car vandalized like that it's just not right. People have nothing else to do," Jones said.

The thieves took about $3,500 in merchandise from the cars. All the car owners will have to replace their windows that could cost a couple hundred dollars each. Police are warning drivers not to leave any items in plain site. Most of the cars in this crime spree were locked.