SIMI VALLEY : Youths Suspected in Window Vandalism

Simi Valley police suspect that juveniles are responsible for about 70 shattered car windows that residents throughout the city have reported over the last three weeks.

Police said BB guns and pellet guns have been used to shoot out many of the windows. Total damage is estimated at $14,000.

The spree began Dec. 18, when residents of east Simi Valley began reporting window smashings, police said. The seemingly random destruction spread to the north-central portion of the city, police said. About 30 of the windows were shot out in south Simi Valley last weekend.

“Saturday was the real shock. . . . We got calls from residents in the south and it showed this is a citywide problem,” said Debra Ruud, a crime analyst at the Police Department.

Some of the affected residents, many of whom have insurance deductibles that surpass the expense of replacing their car windows, are paying $250 or more on repairs, police said. Most of the residents did not hear the windows shatter, but discovered them broken the next morning. The vandals have struck mostly between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., Thursday and Friday, police said.

There are no suspects so far, police said, but several people reported Tuesday that they had seen youths carrying what appeared to be BB or pellet guns near areas in southern Simi Valley where windows were broken recently.