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Rash of car burglaries reported in apartment complexes near LSU this week
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BATON ROUGE - Dozens of smash and grabs have been reported at apartment complexes populated mostly by LSU students.
"I was very shocked."
Those are the only words Gregory Wallis could use to describe how he felt waking up to an unpleasant surprise at his complex, Oakbrook Apartments on Nicholson Drive.
"There have been a couple break-ins in the past month here, but nothing like what I saw yesterday," said Wallis.
Dozens of cars were burglarized in apartment complexes off Nicholson, Burbank and Ben Hur. Within the last 48 hours, BRPD has responded to more than 28 car burglaries, some with shattered windows and others with unlocked doors.
"They go to those particular areas because they feel like it's an easy target," L'jean McKneely of BRPD said. "People feel comfortable so they are not locking their doors. And if they are, they are leaving items that can be taken away easily inside of the car."
For Wallis, this incident will hurt his pocket in more ways than one.
"I drive for Uber, and so this is one of my main sources of income," he said. "So I'm going to be without a good source of income for another week or two until I can get it fixed."
Oakbrook is now trying to reduce this type of crime by increasing patrol in the area. That's something Wallis and many more would like to see so no one else has to wake up with the same shock they did.
"Criminals should know that it hurts a lot of people when they go about reckless abandon, just smashing in windows," Wallis said.
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