Almost 20 cars have been broken into in the Normal Heights area in the past 30 days, police confirmed Friday.
The San Diego Police Department is reaching out to people in the neighborhood via social media sites like Nextdoor to warn them.
Leanna Kelly was one of the many victims of the recent string of break-ins. She says her car was parked on Adams Avenue and Cherokee Avenue when someone smashed her window.
“There was a rock in the back seat, where they had thrown it. Somebody had to have thrown it really hard. There was glass all the way in the back,” Kelly said.
After she discovered the broken window to her car, she went back to her apartment to file a police report. When she came back outside a woman was ransacking her car.
Kelly says she loves the neighborhood and understands parking on the street is a part of living there. Many of the homes are old and were built without garages or driveways.
Another resident said that though his car hasn't been broken into, he's still taking extra precautions.
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"Make sure my windows are all the way up, obviously lock the car, and I have a stereo deck that you can take out. So I make sure that it's not visible to people," Normal Heights resident Omar Alatorre said.
Other neighbors said they wish the streets were lit a little better because it might prevent people from breaking into cars in the shadow of the night.
