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Dozens of vehicles broken into during Chewbacchus parade in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS - Revelers were greeted with shattered glass and missing valuables when they returned to their vehicles after one of New Orleans' first parades of the Mardi Gras season.
The break-ins happened Saturday in Marigny as Chewbacchus, New Orleans' Star Wars-themed parade, rolled through the area. WWL-TV reported dozens of cars were burglarized.
“My friend yelled all the cars are hit and I was thinking he was exaggerating. Sure enough I go out, all the cars were hit,” said Quennell Foster, who was eating at a restaurant near the parade route. “I’m not going to say that that crime and the situations are going to make me leave, it just really puts me in a condition of am I really safe here?”
Lom Hassen, who's lived in New Orleans for 25 years, says the influx of tourism in the neighborhood makes it a prime target for thieves.
“I think the crime is directly linked to that,” Hassen told WWL-TV. “It weakens our ability to work together and work with NOPD to curve these crimes in our neighborhood."
The New Orleans Police Department said it is looking into the burglaries.
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