Thieves hit neighborhood in Columbia

Columbia Police are investigating several car burglaries that happened over the weekend.

According to police records, all of the break-ins happened sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning.

A gun was stolen from a vehicle in the Super 8 Motel parking lot on Freedom Drive.

“So that’s another gun that’s out there on the street in the hands of a criminal,” said Detective Tom O’Sullivan with the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

Police also responded to three car theft calls Saturday morning that were all in the same neighborhood in northeast Columbia.

Tom Dowell said he woke up in his home on Shamrock DriveSaturday morning to find the driver side window of his truck shattered and his wallet stolen.

“It looked like a bomb went off,” he said. “Glass shards and glass everywhere. It was terrible.”

Dowell and his fiance lock their cars every night. He said they even take extra safety precautions.

“We leave our carriage lights on in front of our garage,” he said. “We started turning on our porch light and our back light. You wouldn’t believe how bright it is out here and it didn’t deter him one bit.”

Another car burglary happened the next street over on Gemstone Way. According to police reports, the car window was also smashed and a CD case was stolen.

Dowell said because of the recent crime in their neighborhood, his family is thinking of installing a security system in their home.

“In broad daylight the house across the street from me was robbed and the one next to me was robbed in the morning. It’s such a scary thing,” said Dowell. “It’s such a quiet neighborhood. When we moved in here we were really happy but now we’re second guessing things now.”

Authorities are reminding people to make sure their cars are locked and to hide any valuables they may have inside.

No arrests have been made in any of the car burglaries.