70 cars broken into in Atlanta, police search for suspects
Police say a group of thieves broke into at least 70 cars across Atlanta this week.
“It only takes 5 seconds to break into a vehicle,” says Atlanta Police Major Timothy Peek.
“I don’t understand it, people have nothing else to do?” asks Thomas Marshall as he stands outside his car at his Virginia Highland apartment.
Two of the windows of Marshall’s car were smashed. He says thieves got away with his wedding band that he left in his car while he was at the gym. He says they also took his kids’ sing-a-long CD’s.
Several other cars in the same parking lot had smashed windows. Three of the windows of Helen Su’s car are shattered.
“It’s very frustrating; I canceled my day because of it. I’m not going to drive with three windows out,” says Su.
Atlanta Police say there were 70 car break-ins across Buckhead, Virginia Highland, East Atlanta and Downtown. Police say they saw 3 or 4 guys driving a stolen car very early in the morning Wednesday. At one point, police say they almost hit a couple of officers when they tried to speed off. Police eventually cornered them on a dead end street, and they jumped out and took off running.
Police arrested one man, DeClarence McGee, and believe he’s related to the crimes. Police say they found him front of an apartment complex on Greenwood, just a couple of blocks from where 20 vehicles were broken into.
Police say they recovered cell phones and valuables in the stolen car. Investigators believe they’re linked to the break-ins.
Police say in other cases, the thieves damaged the cars, but didn’t steal a thing because the owners left nothing valuable inside their vehicles.
“The fact nothing was taken is a good step toward moving forward. When we find out criminals are breaking into cars with intent to steal, and they come up with nothing as they continue to break-in, perhaps they’ll choose a different profession,” says Major Peek.
