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EXCLUSIVE: Group of thieves terrorizing Lakewood neighborhood, residents say
Thieves with crowbars and bats smashed up a car in Lakewood. Neighbors say this is not the first incident in recent months.
LAKEWOOD, Calif. - Residents have taken their concerns to Lakewood city officials, informing councilmembers that their neighborhood has been targeted numerous times by a group of perpetrators.
This most recent incident was caught on a Ring doorbell camera.
The video shows at 5:44 a.m., two cars pulled up to a house near the intersection of Clark Avenue and Candlewood Street as a total of six suspects got out and were armed with crowbars and bats. They immediately start smashing the front left end of the sedan in a woman’s driveway. The woman who lives at the home said she believes they were targeting her catalytic converter.
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She heard the commotion that morning and started screaming and pounding on a window, telling the group of suspects to stop. Instead of stopping, her pleas only seemed to fuel the fire as they took a bat to her car. The suspect armed with the bat walked up to the house, and she recalls the suspect being right at her door and felt he would proceed to attack her. Instead, they continued to smash her vehicle’s windows and side mirrors before leaving the scene.
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Another man who lives in the area says his home has been targeted at least seven times and addressed his concern with the city officials.
"I have seven instances just outside my house. Myself and all my neighbors are getting pretty tired of it," he told Lakewood City councilmembers at a recent meeting. "I don’t know how to get the word out more. It really seems to me like more people need to see this video. I’ve had more people tell me that the video looks like ‘The Purge.’ It’s disturbing. I have neighbors with children."
It’s unknown why the neighborhood seems to be targeted.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station.
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