The targets have included Hondas and Toyotas, vans, cars, SUVs and a vintage Rolls Royce.
The bounty has included laptops, cellphones and a Fulton County marshal’s service weapon.
The locations have included the standard apartment complexes and neighborhoods, as well as a combination fire station-police precinct.
All of it adds up to at least 69 car break-ins in the city of Atlanta in a span of just two days — and growing concern in the community.
“I would say this is somewhat out of the ordinary,” said Elizabeth Espy, director of public affairs for the Atlanta Police Department. “Crime ebbs and flows, but to have this many car break-ins in one night (Tuesday) is unusual.”
Tuesday’s break-ins included at least 30 at one Buckhead complex, The Terraces at Peachtree, at the corner of Peachtree Road and Biscayne Drive.
On Wednesday, three different strings of break-ins were reported.
Fourteen cars — including one belonging to a Fulton County marshal — were hit at the Berkeley Heights apartments on Northside Drive. The marshal’s service weapon was among the items reported stolen.
Seven other cars were broken into along the 700 block of Sidney Marcus Boulevard, and five more on Virginia Place, a street in the Peachtree Hills neighborhood of Buckhead.
All that came after a total of 13 more break-ins on Tuesday at three other locations: the Elle of Buckhead apartments on Pharr Road, the 2600 block of Peachtree Road and Atlanta Fire Station 28.
The latter is located on Hollywood Road, and also houses an Atlanta police-mini-precinct. Police said the victims were attending a community meeting at the firehouse and returned to find their cars broken into around 12:40 p.m. — in broad daylight.
Eleven break-ins were also reported Monday in East Point. Three guns were stolen, Channel 2 Action News reported.
During a Tuesday afternoon news conference, Atlanta police Deputy Chief Joseph Spillane said at least “six or seven” locations of recent break-ins are believed to be connected. The suspects are believed to be young males, and they act “very quickly,” he said.
“In and out, smashing windows, grabbing anything they could see from the outside of the car, and then quickly leaving and going to another location,” Spillane said.
Atlanta police spokeswoman Kim Jones said previously that the group of suspects was believed be traveling in a gold Honda CRV, a black SUV and a gray van. Detectives collected blood samples left on one of the victimized vehicles, and the suspects dropped a flashlight at one of the crime scenes, Jones said.
It was unclear if those suspects are believed to be connected to Wednesday’s break-ins.
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