Residents in DeBaliviere Place woke up Wednesday to a rude surprise: a line of cars with blown-out windows and piles of shattered safety glass glittering along Pershing Avenue and surrounding blocks. More than a dozen parked vehicles were hit overnight, leaving owners to sweep out glass, call their insurance companies and file police reports. Several people said they did not find anything missing from their cars, but the hassle of repairs and paperwork still turned the morning into an unwelcome chore.
Video and police response
Video shared with the TV station shows at least a dozen cars sitting along Pershing Avenue near Belt Avenue, every one of them with a window punched out, as reported by First Alert 4. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department told the station it received multiple calls from residents reporting the smashed windows, and detectives are now investigating the string of incidents.
Where this happened
DeBaliviere Place lies between Delmar Boulevard, Union Boulevard, Lindell Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue and includes the section of Pershing Avenue where the damage took place, according to the City of St. Louis. That stretch of Pershing is lined with older apartment buildings and has been targeted by past renewal efforts, a backdrop that helps explain why neighbors quickly spotted the damage and started calling it in.
Not an isolated problem
Vehicle break-ins have also been reported in other parts of the St. Louis area this month. In early May, a wave of overnight car break-ins near Busch Stadium during a Cardinals game was reported, according to KFVS. In that case, police urged people to lock their vehicles, take valuables with them and report any thefts, which are the same precautions neighborhood leaders are repeating in the wake of Wednesday’s damage.
Anyone who discovered damage to their vehicle or has video from the area is being asked to contact the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department so detectives can follow up on any leads, as reported by First Alert 4. For now, neighbors say their immediate focus is sweeping up glass and scheduling repairs, even in cases where nothing appears to have been taken from inside the cars.
