Burglars target dozens of vehicles at luxury apartment complex

HOUSTON – Over the weekend, suspected thieves targeted upwards of 50 cars at a luxury apartment complex, according to residents.

Surveillance video from one of the victim’s cars captured the two people they believe were behind the string of crimes.

On Saturday morning, dozens of people woke up to smashed car windows at 8877 Frankway Drive, at the HighBank Apartments.

“We want the footage to get out there so that people can help us find out who did this because I think it's unacceptable to, you know, vandalize over 50 vehicles in a place,” Alexandra Salas said.

She said her husband has a surveillance camera on his dashboard. Around 3:50 a.m. Saturday, it captured two people walking from car to car.

READ: 'If you like your car, lock it': Gary P. Nunn spreads awareness about auto thefts

In the video, one of the suspects passed a tool to their companion, and seconds later, the suspects can be heard breaking into Salas’ husband’s truck.

“It actually makes me very angry because I feel like we should be able to live somewhere and not feel violated, you know, and that it causes so much chaos and makes you feel unsafe,” she said. “Because it’s,  like, supposedly, you come and live in a gated community to feel like, a little bit safer. Of course, I understand crime happens everywhere, but at the same time, you should be able to feel comfortable, especially if you supposedly have someone patrolling. You wonder where is this guy who was supposed to be patrolling  our garage that these people had their time to go up several floors and bust out so many windows.”

KPRC went to the leasing office of the complex, but the manager had already left for the day.

Salas said she hopes someone recognizes the suspects.

“I’m just very upset. I know everyone is very upset, and we’re just grateful that we got any kind of footage to just see if we can stop whoever is doing this,” Salas said. “It’s very frustrating that I feel like the youth of today has become so disrespectful towards people.”

What did they take?

Salas said the thieves didn’t take anything from either her or her husband’s truck, but they left hundreds of dollars’ worth of damage behind.

“I know we paid about $200 each. I know some people paid $500 for their glass windows,” said Salas, who just bought her new Toyota two weeks ago.

“I know one girl’s laptop got stolen. It was just really strange, it was very odd how this happened because some people got stuff stolen, some people didn’t. I don’t know what they were looking for, honestly,” she said.

Houston police said the crime is one of several and it's a trend they’ve noticed. A sergeant with the Houston Police Department said they’ve had instances where suspects would skip over a wallet and then in another car would steal a phone charger.

Police said many times, suspects are looking for weapons.

Advice from police

Sgt. Tracy Hicks has been working on cases across the city involving car break-ins at apartment complexes.

He said it’s important that people remember to remove valuables including guns, wallets, purses, laptops, phones, money and even cellphone chargers from cars.

Hicks said it doesn’t matter where anyone lives, they should always take those precautions.