Four New Incidents : Pierce Vandal Who Hits Women’s Cars Returns

A new semester at Pierce College has included the return of a burglar who vandalizes the cars of female students has returned, according to police.

Four cars have been broken into and seriously damaged in the last two weeks, they said.

Police also reported that a man tried to shoot a campus security officer with an air pistol last week after being observed lurking around one of the parking lots at the Woodland Hills campus. The man got away, they said.

Gas Pedals Stolen

Authorities are investigating the vandalizing of 25 cars of women students in the last two semesters. The current semester began Jan. 8.

In all the burglaries, the vandal has slashed the wires under the dashboard and stolen the gas pedal, disabling the vehicles. In some cases, the burglar has also slashed dress shoes that were in the cars.

Ken Renolds, a security officer at Pierce, said he was staking out a parking lot off Victory Boulevard last Thursday when a man in his early 20s shot BBs at him with an air pistol. Renolds said he had watched the man drive back and forth across the lot several times in his car that evening, then park and start looking inside another parked car.

Renolds said that as he crouched behind a nearby car, the man spotted him and fired the air pistol, narrowly missing him. The man then got back into his car and sped away, Renolds said.

Renolds said campus police are continuing to warn students about the vandal and that officers and a recently formed student security patrol are watching the parking lots.

“The women around here are quite concerned and quite scared,” Renolds said. “Everyone’s been coming up to us, asking us what we’re doing and what they can do to help us. We plan more stakeouts, and we’re on the lookout for any suspicious activity.”

The incidents began last September and have occurred at all times of the day, police said. Over one eight-week period, one break-in was reported each week.

All in Lot 3

All of the burglaries this semester have occurred in Lot 3 off Victory Boulevard, Renolds said. In two instances, the vandal stole the gas and brake pedal. In one burglary, the vandal lifted the hood and disconnected the car linkage from the accelerator.

Two students who were multiple victims of the vandal last year have graduated, Renolds said. The car of one of them was broken into six times, while another student was struck three times.

“Three of the victims this semester are really terrified,” the security officer said. “They heard about it happening last semester, and they never thought it would happen to them.”