Marble-Throwing Vandals Strike 28 Times In The Bronx
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are trying to find out who drove through the Bronx, throwing marbles and shattering windows at more than two dozen stores, restaurants and vehicles throughout the borough.
Police said the vandals struck 28 times between 7:15 p.m. and 8:40 p.m. Sunday night.
As CBS2's Scott Rapoport reported, the tiny weapons have done serious damage, leaving behind a string of shot up glass windows.
"Oh, that looks like a bullet hole,"Al Garcia said.
An Applebee's on Hutchinson River Parkway and a McDonald's on Westchester Avenue were among the restaurants that were targeted.
Windows were also cracked at the East Tremont Diner.
"Somebody shoot the window from outside," diner worker Dennis Kattis said. "It was a marble. They found a marble outside."
An MTA bus on East Tremont Avenue and Latting Street, and a parked car on Southern Boulevard and East 183rd Street were also hit.
Broken glass also litters the snow near an AutoZone in Middletown. A busted window is now boarded up, but the store manager said the incident has him on edge.
"I got to take care of my employees. It worries me," manager Josh Mojica said.
An assistant manager at the V.I.M. clothing store on East Tremont Avenue thought somebody had fired a gunshot into the thick glass door, 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported.
"It was cracked, and we saw a little hole," she said.
At one restaurant on Castle Hill Ave, owners said it will cost $700 to replace the window, but he considers himself lucky.
"Someone took a pop shot at us," Jorge Espinosa said, "People could have been hurt."
At Sabrosura Restaurant, the owner believes his surveillance cameras caught the incident on tape.
he pointed to a car passing by the restaurant at 8:47 p.m., around the time of the shooting.
Police believe the marbles were being shot from a paint gun or a BB gun, CBS2's Rapoport reported.
It is unclear how many people are involved.
The NYPD has released a picture of a white four-door sedan with dark tinted windows that they're looking for in connection with the incidents.
No injuries were reported.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
