SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Residents of several apartment complexes near Cutler Bay remain on edge hours after vandals targeted more than two dozen vehicles on the properties.
According to the victims, the subjects targeted cars at the Cutler Vista Apartments and surrounding complexes, near 216th Street in Southwest Miami-Dade, early Sunday morning.
Tia Burrows described the chaotic scene she witnessed when she discovered that her car was one of the vehicles targeted.
“I came out to go to work this morning and found the window vandalized, a lot of police and cars all around the complex vandalized,” she said.
“They just busted windows like crazy, so they went on a spree,” said resident Kelly Simmons.
Burrows said the vandals also wrote messages on the vehicles.
“Messages like ‘PJ Mask’ or some subliminal messages. It was nothing. I don’t think it was directed at that particular person,” she said. “It just seemed like something, like, they wrote little sayings and put ‘unknown’ next to it, so I don’t think it was personal. I just think that, well, with 30 cars, it couldn’t have been personal.”
Even so, the vandalism spree has left victims cleaning up a mess that will cost them to fix.
“We live here. We pay. They ask for so much stuff, and yet, what about our safety? What about our property? Who’s going to pay for all of this?” said victim Diana Chinea.
What’s most frustrating, residents said, is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Now they are demanding that management at the targeted apartment complexes do more to prevent this from happening again.
“We’ve always seen a lot of people here that don’t belong here, but what can we do?” said Jorge Rodriguez, as he vacuumed broken glass out of his truck. “What they’ve got to do is they have to gate that community, man. They have to put a gate there. They’ve got to put a security guard because we can’t keep dealing with this. They slashed my tires last week. I can’t keep doing this, man.”
If you have any information on these acts of vandalism or the subjects’ whereabouts, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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