‘It made me feel violated’: Richmond woman catches car break-in on camera

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A Richmond woman is raising concerns about the car break-ins in the Oak Grove neighborhood near her home.

The woman, who didn’t want to be identified due to safety concerns, is speaking out about the growing trend after catching someone breaking into her daughter’s car last weekend.

“I was pissed. I was horrified. I was upset,” the woman told NBC12. “Why would someone do this?”

In the video, it appears a person breaks into a window, clears the glass out of the way, and jumps through the window into the backseat.

“It made me feel violated. It made me feel like, why are you doing this?” she explained to NBC12. “What are you looking for? We keep nothing in our cars, no valuables, no guns.”

Just a month ago, the woman said her car was broken into, and she was not alone.

“One gentleman says his car has been broken into five times,” she said. “One lady just got her window repaired about a week ago. I think she has a Kia, and on the 15th, they broke into it again. Busted out her window again.”

Richmond Police is seeing a spike in car thefts. Weekly statistics on the Richmond Police Department’s website show a 21 percent jump in car thefts this year.

“Think about the deductibles. $500, thousands of dollars that you have to pay to get your car repaired, your insurance is going to go up,” said the woman.

Richmond Police confirmed officers took reports about the car break-ins. Now, this woman is beefing up her security measures and speaking out, determined to find out who is behind this and end the growing trend.

“This needs to stop,” the woman told NBC12. “The community needs to get together and stand together, you know, on this horrific tragedy with these individuals breaking into these cars.”

Richmond Police ask anyone with information regarding these cases to call Crime Stoppers at (804)-780-1000.

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