ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Ann Arbor police say more than two dozen vehicles were broken into at Pioneer High School on Sunday afternoon.
According to police, it happened around 4 p.m. during the Michigan men's basketball game at Crisler Center.
Police say 27 vehicles had their windows smashed out by an unknown suspect or suspects.
Joe Weitz from Kalamazoo was one of the victims. He was taking his 8-year-old daughter to her first Michigan basketball game.
"Everything was great until we got back out to the car after the game and saw glass everywhere,” Weitz said. "It was pretty devastating. My daughter was definitely pretty emotional because they went through everything in our car. Every bag, every compartment, every glovebox.”
At first, Weitz thought it was just his car but one by one, more fans came out to their cars and were met with the same discovery.
Hear more from Joe Weitz and his daughter in the video player below:
“Usually in these situations, you would have one or two vehicles that are broken into, but we're investigating anywhere form 24 to 27 vehicles that had been broken into,” Sgt. Jim Anuszkiewicz with the Ann Arbor Police Department said.
Anuszkiewicz says in total, thousands of dollars' worth of items were stolen including cash, purses, wallets, clothes and a laptop. They also released photos showing a person of interest who they need help identifying.
“We believe that's an individual someone would be able to recognize or know the clothing he’s wearing,” said Anuszkiewicz, who added that they believe others were likely involved. "I would have a hard time believing just one individual got into all these vehicles and took all that property.”
The lot at Pioneer is a popular game day parking spot for football and basketball that fans pay to use.
“I've always just felt that with paid parking, I had that sense of security that it's at least safer," Weitz said. "But I was wrong yesterday.”
With Crisler arena’s no-bag policy, many fans have to leave things behind. Police urge them to keep valuables out of plain sight or lock them in the trunk if possible.
Luckily, nothing important was stolen from the Weitz car but with his back seat covered in glass, his daughter had to ride shotgun on a long ride home.
“Drove back to Kalamazoo with no back window — it was pretty cold," Weitz said. “Had her in the front seat, wasn't really loving that idea, but the officer there on scene said it was probably the best idea because of all the glass.”
They are reminding people to never leave purses or wallets, cellphones, cash or credit cards, electronics and other valuable items in plain sight.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 734-794-6920, email tips@a2gov.org or submit a tip to silent witness at aapd.a2gov.org/silentwitness.
