More Than 100 Windows Shot Out With BB Guns

SAN LEANDRO, CA -

Update: Vandals using BB guns to shoot out the windows of cars in dozens of incidents since December in Castro Valley, San Leandro and San Lorenzo have caused as much as $100,000 in damage, law enforcement officials said today.

More than 120 cars have been damaged by the persistent vandals, most recently at about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday when the windows of eight cars were blown out in the 14200 block of Santiago Road in San Leandro, police said.

Earlier:

Some residents of Castro Valley, San Leandro and San Lorenzo have been waking up to find their car windows shattered in a rash of vandalism over the past several weeks, an Alameda County sheriff's sergeant said today.

It appears a group of suspects has been shooting out car windows with BB guns, sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

The sheriff's office and San Leandro police have responded to several dozen incidents that have damaged more than 100 cars, with the latest incident happening just this week, Kelly said.

The attacks happen at night when residents are asleep. Residents don't usually hear the BB guns go off and just wake up to find their windows shattered. But at least one attack has been captured on surveillance video and investigators are working to track down that suspect, Kelly said.

Right now, investigators are working under the assumption that the attacks are related.

"It's too coincidental to have this spate of vandalism with such a distinctive targeting of vehicle glass," Kelly said. "With so many in such a short period of time, it would lead us to conclude it was all related."

Anyone with information about the vandalism, particularly anyone with surveillance video of the suspects, has been asked to contact the sheriff's office at (510) 272-6878 or San Leandro police at (510) 577-2740.

--Bay City News