San Diego police are searching for a woman who used a golf club to smash the windows of at least 15 cars in the middle of the night in Encanto.
Neighbors near the Encanto trolley stop at 62nd Street and Akins Avenue were startled out of their beds around 2 a.m. Tuesday.
“Just a hit. I didn’t hear much, I was just banging on the windows of the car,” a witness told NBC 7 on condition of anonymity.
It happened right below Carla Perez’s apartment.
“I was really shocked because that doesn’t usually happen. Nobody comes here and breaks windows,” Perez added.
Police said 15 cars parked along Akins Avenue had broken windows.
“I thought it was like a lever or a bat,” Perez said.
That’s what police thought at first, but it later turned out to be a woman with a golf club, investigators said.
The Encanto neighborhood is mostly low-income, affordable homes. It’s a working-class neighborhood where people own their cars but may not have a place to park them. So they leave them on the street, where they become most vulnerable
“A lot of us here are low-income, so they can’t afford alarms in their cars. Some people didn’t realize until this morning their car was hit,” Perez said.
Such is the case with the owner of a white Nissan that lost a windshield, driver’s side and rear window. His son parks it on Akins Avenue, even though they live a few blocks away. They found out when NBC 7 contacted them by phone.
“Oh shit. I didn’t know that,” said the surprised owner.
No arrests have been made, so Tuesday could prove to be a restless night for some. Others are wary.
“If she comes back and messes with other people’s cars, you know that’s going to be a problem for her, not for us,” a witness said.
The SDPD Southeast Division is investigating.