"It was a bad morning:" South side residents wake up to nearly 15 vehicles ransacked, damaged

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee police are investigating a rash of thefts from vehicles on the city's south side. Police said the suspects in this case took property from vehicles after they forced their way inside.

South side car break-ins

Conquered cars, tossed trucks and mangled minivans. That was what some woke up to Wednesday, January 18th near 12th and Montana.

"Everybody was here and just upset. It was a bad morning," said Roziah Harun, whose minivan was damaged.

South side car break-ins

Harun said she parked her minivan around 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night. Hours later, a neighbor served notice of the nuisance.

"I missed school! I missed my final exam today! This is a bad day for me," said Harun.

The damage varied by vehicle.

"There's been a lot of people driving by with broken windshields, looking at each other, seeing if it happened to them," said Linda Chojnacki, whose SUV was damaged.

South side car break-ins

While it appeared as though some vehicles were simply sifted through, others suffered significant loss.

South side car break-ins

"They took the manager of the building's battery from one of his cars, and then from the other car they took a lot of tools that cost a lot of money," said Jose Perez, whose cousin's car was damaged.

As Milwaukee police investigate, the victims worked to clean up Wednesday.

"Usually it's a pretty good neighborhood to live in, but not lately I guess," Harun said.

Police said they are investigating five total reports of thefts from vehicles Wednesday morning.

South side car break-ins

One of the victims said fingerprints and a blood sample were taken from her SUV for testing by investigators.