Palo Alto Police Seek Car Theft Suspect Who Shot At Resident

PALO ALTO, CA — Police said a South Court resident who confronted a man who broke into his car was shot at on Saturday night but not injured.

Officers responded to the 3600 block of South Court just before midnight Sunday and found a resident who reported he had chased after several car break-in suspects.

The man told police he had seen five or six men walking down the street with flashlights, shining the lights into parked cars and trying to open car doors. He went outside and found one of them standing by the open driver's door of his car in his driveway.

The resident chased the suspects as they ran to a waiting vehicle. As the suspects were getting into the vehicle, the man heard what he believed to be a gunshot.

Officers located an expended casing from a .40 caliber handgun. A neighborhood check revealed at least two other unlocked vehicles on South Court that had been opened and rummaged through.
The suspects were described as males, about 5-feet-9 inches tall, with larger builds. Two were wearing hooded sweatshirts (one gray, and one yellow). The victim described their vehicle as a dark-colored full-size sport utility vehicle.

At about 12:45 a.m. on Sunday police received another call from a resident in the 700 block of Talisman Court reporting that they had surveillance camera footage showing that at about 11:20 p.m., a group of suspects had been rummaging through unlocked vehicles in that location as well.
Police are actively investigating these incidents, and recommend that residents always lock their vehicle doors overnight.

Residents who find items missing from their vehicles are urged to call (650) 329-2413, or file a report online at www.cityofpaloalto.org/onlinereports.

Anyone with information about this incident can call (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.

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