Port St. Lucie BB gun vandals hit at least 66 vehicles

The search is on tonight for a BB gun vandal in Port St. Lucie after at least 66 vehicles were damaged overnight.

 

The victims were all in the western part of the city between the Turnpike and I-95 east to west, and between the Crosstown Pkwy and Becker Road north to south.

 

The calls were coming in non-stop to emergency dispatchers as the sun came up.

 

NewsChannel 5 found Maria Martinez sweeping up the glass around her mom's car, a gift from her son.

 

"I just saw it and I said, oh my God it's a new car he just bought it for her," Martinez said.

 

The Martinez family car was just one of at least 66 targeted by vandals overnight.

 

Donald Engle got the unwelcome news from a police officer knocking on his door.  

 

"I see the officer and I said, what did I do," Engle said laughing.

 

A few blocks away, Erin Perry got up at 6 this morning to head to class for an exam she had to take. She didn't hear anything overnight and didn't even realize her car had been hit until after she came home.

 

"The windows were all covered in the frost so I didn't notice it until after my exam I went out to my car to put my books in and I noticed my whole back window was shot out," said Perry.

 

Not every victim today has to deal with broken glass. Betty Bryant has two flat tires. The back tire she had just bought two weeks ago.

 

"Hard times, it is annoying. People don't have money to replace these things," Bryant said.

 

Fortunately, no one was hurt during the vandalism spree, but police know they have their work cut out for them.

 

"We're going to need some help solving this one. We're going to need some information from out there," said Lt. Leo Niemczyk with the Port St. Lucie Police Department.

 

Right now police don't have anything to lead them to believe this was part of some gang initiation, but they hope someone saw something or maybe has some surveillance video.

 

If you have any information, you are asked to call police or Treasure Coast Crimestoppers at 1-800-273-TIPS.