Car windows smashed in break-in spree

Columbia police are investigating five reports of cars being broken into at three gyms across town.

The break-ins happened Wednesday between 9 a.m. and noon. The gyms were the break-ins happened were the ARC (Activity and Recreation Center) on West Ash Street, All Group Fitness on Broadway Business Park Court, and Pro Fitness on Vandiver Drive. All five vehicles had their passenger windows smashed.

Officer Latisha Stroer said it is rare for a thief to break a window to gain access. She said they normally see incidents when victims leave their cars unlocked. Stroer said these five victims did leave items in plain sight.

“It gives them a reason to steal something out of your vehicle,” Stroer said. “If there’s nothing in your vehicle to steal in the first place, then they’ll move on.”

Stroer did have specifics of what was stolen but she said personal items and no weapons.

Witnesses at the two of the three locations reported seeing saw a black male wearing grey clothing, looking into vehicles prior to the vehicles being broken into.

Stroer also recommended anyone doing holiday shopping to load their shopping bags into the trunk and move their car.

“That suspect knows you carried out a lot of packages and they may think its worth it to breaking into your vehicle to get,” Stroer said. “So if you move your vehicle they think you’re leaving the area and going shopping somewhere else when really you could just move to a different part of the parking lot.”