Robberies, Assaults, Car Thefts, Business Break-Ins Reported: Howard County Police

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — A crime spree carried out in broad daylight in a Howard County community has residents on alert. Two commercial burglaries has alarmed business owners, too.

Howard County Police say a group of men wearing masks committed a string of robberies, assaults and car thefts in the Waverly Woods neighborhood of Woodstock.

Police said at around 2 p.m. Sunday, two teens were in the neighborhood clubhouse parking lot when a group of seven to eight men pulled up in an SUV and a car, got out wearing masks, punched one of the teens in the face and grabbed their cellphones.

"What we believe is they were trying to get their cellphones to take money off — maybe their debit cards that were on their cellphones or other financial apps they can get money from. They were able to steal one cellphone. It's undetermined if they stole any cash as a result of that, and the other one, they weren't able to get into and they destroyed at the scene," Howard County Police Department spokesman Seth Hoffman told WBAL.

Police said the suspects then drove to a nearby residential street and stole a Kia there, ditching their other car. Police determined that car had been stolen from Baltimore City. The only description of the masked suspects is young men or juveniles.

On Tuesday, a man broke a window and entered East Coast Truck and Equipment located in the 10000 block of Washington Boulevard in Savage around 1:25 a.m. Police said it isn't clear what, if anything, was stolen. Police discovered a similar burglary at Caton Auto Body, located in the same area, from which a Kia K5 was stolen and ultimately recovered. Police are investigating whether the two burglaries are related.

That same day around 12:50 a.m., residents reported to police that they saw a man in their home located in the 11600 block of Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia. Nothing was reported stolen, police said.