VENTURA, CAMARILLO : Police Investigate Window Shootings

Ventura and Camarillo police were investigating scores of vandalism reports Thursday in the aftermath of a pellet-gun shooting spree that left at least one person injured and more than 40 car windows shattered.

“We have some leads, but that’s all,” said Ventura Police Detective Lynn Klamser. “It affected the whole city.”

Reports of broken windows began coming in Tuesday night and continued through Thursday morning, authorities said. Vandals armed with pellet or BB guns apparently drove throughout Ventura and Camarillo, randomly shooting at cars and, in one instance, at a 13-year-old Ventura boy.

The boy, who was hit in the chest by the pellets, did not require hospitalization, Klamser said.

Sheriff’s deputies in Camarillo said they received 10 to 15 reports of broken windows. Ventura police estimated that they received between 30 and 40. Authorities were investigating whether the shooting spree was the work of one group of vandals or several separate groups.

Stephanie Price, a resident of the College Heights neighborhood in Ventura, returned from dinner Tuesday night to find the rear window of her 1984 Bronco II shattered. A replacement window cost her $228. “When I went to work I mentioned it and a friend said her neighbor in Camarillo got hit as well,” Price said.

Price said she called Ventura police but didn’t make a report. “They said there were too many reports already and it would take a long time,” she said. “I went to bed instead.”