MILWAUKEE — Neighbors near N. 87th Street and W. Melvina Street spent Saturday cleaning up shattered glass and covering broken car windows after residents said about a dozen vehicles were broken into overnight, rushing to make temporary repairs before incoming storms.
Surveillance video from a Ring camera shows a person with a flashlight getting into a car just before 5:30 a.m. Saturday and driving down the street. Neighbors say the vehicle stopped next to parked cars before driving away.
Watch: How neighbors near N. 87th Street and W. Melvina Street worked to cleanup and repair vehicles after many were broken into overnight.
Residents say that’s when windows began shattering.
By Saturday afternoon, neighbors were vacuuming glass and covering damaged windows along the block.
Jake Anderson, a resident, said he first realized something was wrong when he stepped outside to run errands and saw several neighbors gathered, talking about the damage.
“I noticed something wrong when I came outside to run errands, and three neighbors were out having a conversation about what was going on,” he said.
As he drove around the block, Anderson said he noticed more broken glass where cars had already left to get windows repaired.
One of the damaged vehicles belonged to Casey Morris, who said a neighbor alerted him about the broken window.
“A neighbor came and told me around three today someone had broken my driver’s side window,” Morris said.
Morris said nothing appeared to be taken from his car, but with severe weather expected in the coming days, he wanted to get the window covered quickly.
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s hard trying to get the window fixed before all this crazy weather in the next couple of days,” Morris said. "People have kids, jobs, places to be. I’m in a position to fix it, but a lot of people aren't."
Anderson said neighbors stepped in to help temporarily cover the damaged window with plastic.
“I don’t know this gentleman. All I know is that he’s got glass broken and he needs some help and didn’t know how he was going to fix it, so I grabbed some plastic from Ace Hardware, and we’re going to wrap him up and get him on his way,” Anderson said.
Despite the cleanup, Anderson said the incident has left some residents uneasy.
“As an EMT, I’m up all hours of the night, and now when I want to come home and sleep, I feel like I need to be looking out for neighbors,” Anderson said.
Both Anderson and Morris encouraged everyone to look out for each other.
Milwaukee police have not yet responded to our request for information about the break-ins or whether any arrests have been made.
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