About 29 cars had their windows smashed inside Oak Park's Avenue Parking Garage in an overnight attack on Sept. 11. The Oak Park Police Department (OPPD) documented the break-ins in a summary report first reported by the Wednesday Journal.
The burglaries happened just after 3 a.m. in the garage on the 700 block of North Boulevard, just east of Oak Park Avenue. Officers who responded spotted the suspects' vehicle, described as a black Kia SUV reported stolen from Chicago, but it fled the scene.
The same vehicle was later linked to burglaries at the University of Illinois Chicago's East campus, where UIC police documented break-ins around 4:10 a.m. that same morning, the Wednesday Journal reported. An OPPD spokesperson confirmed the connection in an email to the paper.
The scale of the incident prompted police to warn nearby Dominican University that burglars could target River Forest next. Martin Grill, a police patrol commander, told the Dominican Star that officers "thought that the burglars might hit River Forest next, so they alerted Dominican University." Sasha Santiago, Dominican's director of campus safety, sent a campuswide email warning.
Dominican University was not targeted.
One car owner told the Wednesday Journal they returned from vacation to find their windows smashed and the interior ransacked, though nothing was taken because they keep nothing in the vehicle. Police had left a note on the car. The owner said they felt frustrated by the lack of communication from the village about the incident.
The Village of Oak Park said its parking department had been contacted for more information about whether security cameras are in the garage and about standard procedures for notifying victims of property damage and theft on village property.
The OPPD investigation was still ongoing as of Oct. 2, the most recent public update available.
A separate attack struck Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood on Sept. 1, where 64 vehicles were vandalized, some also burglarized, according to the Cook County Sheriff's Department. A teen suspect was arrested Sept. 22 in connection with the Maywood incident and charged with criminal damage to property and burglary of motor vehicles, the Wednesday Journal reported, citing NBC Chicago.
Grill advised keeping valuables out of sight or not leaving them in vehicles at all. "Usually car burglaries are not personal burglaries … they're after stuff, not after you," he said. Students who feel unsafe walking to their cars can call for help, he added, and officers will respond.
