Early Wednesday on Chicago's Northwest Side, a crew of thieves moved down residential blocks smashing windows and yanking steering-wheel airbags out of parked Hondas, leaving residents to wake up to piles of glass and gutted dashboards. The hits unfolded overnight along neighborhood streets, and witnesses told police the offenders took off in a waiting vehicle after the spree. Detectives are now combing through reports and asking neighbors to review any doorbell or building camera footage that might have caught the culprits in the act.
Officers were first called around 3:45 a.m. to the 5400 block of North Neenah Avenue for a reported car burglary, where a Honda had its front windows shattered and its airbag removed. Not far away, on the 5300 block of North Nashville Avenue, officers found similar damage, and scanner traffic indicated the vandalism stretched over several nearby blocks, with close to two dozen vehicles targeted in total. Three people were seen fleeing the area in a car, and investigators urged anyone with surveillance video or information to contact police, according to WGN-TV.
The overnight rip-offs match a larger pattern behind multiple Chicago Police community alerts this winter, as organized crews have been stripping late-model Honda Civics and Accords in neighborhoods from the lakefront to the West Side. Police and local reporters say the thefts are fast, with thieves able to pull an airbag in seconds, and the units are then resold on the black market. The growing surge has been chronicled by FOX 32 Chicago.
How Neighbors Can Protect Cars
Police and mechanics suggest some basic defensive moves: park in a garage when possible or in well-lit areas, use Club-style steering-wheel locks that cover the airbag zone, and hang on to any time-stamped doorbell or security camera clips that show suspicious activity. Replacing a factory airbag can cost more than $1,000, while stolen modules bring in only a few hundred dollars on the street, a lopsided payoff that helps explain why the crime keeps popping up. For a look at recent block-by-block sprees, see Lakeview Streets Ransacked, along with police guidance outlined by NBC Chicago.
"They smashed a window and took my airbag, and my neighbor's," said Frank Rubio, who told WGN-TV he discovered his car had been hit. Police said the investigation remains active and reminded residents not to confront suspects, but instead to share any tips and video with detectives.
