'Not again': West End residents frustrated by uptick in car vandalism, smashed windows

Several West End residents are frustrated after being targeted multiple times for vandalism to their vehicles.

Louis Tome got some unpleasant news Saturday night about his car windows being smashed.

“(My) neighbour came over about 10:50 p.m. last night knocking on the door, and I go to the window and he’s pointing at my car, and I thought, 'not again.'"

Saturday night Tome’s driver side window and passenger window were smashed out, along with several other vehicles on the street.

He said this is the second time in a week that someone has targeted the cars on his block.

“Tuesday evening (my) neighbour texted me and said, ‘Have you happened to look at your car? I think the windows are smashed.’ So I come out, and sure enough again, a whole file of cars down Ashburn.”

Bonnie Magne lives on the same street as Tome, and her windows were also the target of vandalism on Saturday evening.

She said she was home when it happened, but didn’t notice anyone tampering with her vehicle.

“They do it so fast that you don’t even realize,” said Magne. “You don’t hear anything, so it’s pretty hard to catch them.”

Broken windows have been an issue for Winnipeggers in other areas too. On Thursday, dozens of cars in the Fort Garry area had their windows smashed as well.

Constable Rob Carver with the Winnipeg Police Service said there has been a rash of these incidents over the last few weeks.

“We’ve got a group of officers dedicated to looking at it, we haven’t made any arrests yet,” said Carver. “These aren’t looking like break-ins. It looks like vandalism and a number of acts of it.”

Carver said there appears to be some connection between these acts, but said it is too early in the investigation to know for sure.

He said it is important to report these incidents so police can have an idea of where to deploy their resources.

Tome said his street being a repeated target of vandalism is frustrating for him and others in the area, but for now there’s only one thing he can do.

“Get up tomorrow morning, go see the guy who replaced my window on Tuesday and say, ‘I’m back.’”