Someone broke windows out of my Trailblazer ... and house!

[Steve]

We got a RUDE awakeing this morning. My wife and I were in bed and about 2:30 AM when the window in my kitchen exploded. I got up, looked at the scene pretty quickly, grabbed a phone and my 9mm pistol and locked us down in the bedroom while we waited for the police to come.

Turns out, the rear window in my 2002 Trailblazer was broken out for a smash-and-grab, not sure what they got yet. They also broke my kitchen window, right next to the garage/driveway. Glass is all over the kitchen floor.

The police think that they were kids out causing vandalism, there were three or four of these same break-ins within a 1 mile radius of our house apparently.

I'll keep everyone updated, we're expecting rain today and it's just about 4 am, have to get two windows fixed and take a day off work.

[Steve]

I was going to spend some money to upgrade the server, but I guess we have to put that project on hold for now.

[84fiero123]

Sorry to hear about your windows. It probably was just kids. We just had a rash of acid bombs recently here.

Couple of kids set off a couple of acid bombs in a local Wal Mart, a few weeks ago.

Now just 2 nights ago they set off 2 acid bombs in a couple of mail boxes. Blew them all to shreds.

They caught the kids that set off the ones in the Wal Mart, still looking for the others.

Hopefully your was just kids too.

Glad to hear it was just damage and no one got hurt.

[Steve]

Yeah, the cop that came here was on his radio and they got reports from a couple other houses getting similar type windows broken out in houses within about a 20 minute timeline. That seems to him to suggest some kids out looking to cause damage. They don't appear to have taken anything. I left my leather work briefcase in the cavalier and there was a bunch of stuff in the TrailBlazer, like my wife's cell phone.

[TrailLeadr]

Wow Steve, sorry to hear about the vandalism. It sucks when something like that happens. It's even worse when your vehicle or house is robbed. It gives you a feeling of a lack of security. Makes you a little paranoid for the next few months. Been there, wasn't fun. As long as everyone is ok. Things can be replaced, people can't. With any luck they'll get the little Sh*ts who did it, and have them pay restitution. At least you could recoup your losses.

[Steve]

It looks like it's going to cost us about $450 or so, plus costs for missing a day's work, having a black plastic ugly thing over the window for a week before it can be replaced, cost of plywood, etc. Maybe $500 overall, I guess. The rear window in this thing is mega expensive, like $1250 installed. At this point, I'm better off getting it fixed and paying the deductible for it than doing it myself.

Our problem is that we're the first house that you come to off a busy street and we have a park across from us. This window was fairly open to all of that, we plan to put some short shrubs in front of it and maybe another tree or two on that side of the street to hide the house more.

In the long run, no one was hurt. Looks like some kids were out to be reckless and cause damage and we were just an easy house to hit.

[TrailLeadr]

Well don't give up hope. Kids who do things like that aren't notoriously smart. If you're lucky they'll not realize that they should stop while they're ahead of the game. Hopefully they'll do it again somewhere else, and get caught.

[Steve]

Well, I was young and foolish once. Now, I'm in my mid-30s and foolish.

[Steve]

Ok, my wife's all freaked out. I installed a motion-sensor dual light above the garage this morning. It's got a dusk-to-dawn setting where it will give a little bit of light all the time, then turn on high if the motion sensor is tripped. I drilled through the wall and rigged the power temporarily with a cut-off extension cord that I plugged in next to the garage door opener plug that's on the top of the celing. I'll hard wire that in later.

Next, I'm about to open the fence up on the side of my house so I can put my utility trailer next to the garage, that will allow me to put the Trailblazer and the Cavalier in the garage at night. The Suburban is not at the house anymore, it's been "loaned" or "gifted" out to a family member more needy, so we're down to just 2 vehicles that we need to keep under wraps.

[retired2001]

There is no "good" time for this kind of stuff to happen, but maybe the "kids" will be back in school before long. Just a thought, but have you thought about a "camera" to go along with the security light? Even a "dummy" camera might make the vandals think twice. Good luck & Happy New Year!