Witnesses sought after another string of BB gun vandalism

Police hope witnesses will come forward after another rash of BB gun vandalism in Cedar Rapids.

Someone shot out 13 windows during the overnight hours Saturday into Sunday. Reports started coming in around 6:30 a.m. on New Year's Day, and continued during the day.

Seven of the reports in the northwest quadrant were north of F Avenue and east of Edgewood Road NW. Four other reports were between 29th and 32nd streets NE, and another was just south of that area, near Mount Mercy University.

"It's so hard to tie them all together unless we have witnesses," Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said.

The damage came exactly one month after 17 vehicles had windows shot out. Those vehicles were parked in three different city quadrants, but more than half the reports were along B Avenue NE.

In that case, a witness told police the suspects were in a tan-colored car when they shot out windows on seven vehicles in the 1700 block of B Avenue NE. According to the witness, the shooter was wearing a Carhartt-style coat.

Investigators have not connected the two crime sprees, but are looking at the possibility, Hamblin said.

Hamblin said criminal mischief reports in Cedar Rapids and other communities almost always go up when school is on break. Police have worked with area businesses to be on the lookout for people buying materials for criminal acts, she said.

"We've really gotten better over the years because we've worked better with the stores," Hamblin said.

Anyone with information about the recent vandalism is asked to call police at (319) 286-5491 or Linn County CrimeStoppers at 1-800-CS-CRIME.

Here are the locations of the reports made on New Year's Day:

1323 O Ave. NW

3127 Waveland Dr. NW

1235 11th St. NW

916 Staub Ct. NE

227 31st St. Dr. SE

2622 Westwood Dr. NW

617 19th St. SE

1321 10th St. NW

115 30th St. Dr. SE

2015 Franklin Ave. NE

2009 O Ave. NW

3020 Eastern Ave. NE

1001 13th St. NW