San Antonio residents raise concerns over the number of vehicle break-ins, burglaries on NW Side

Clicking through the different video clips her dashboard camera captured overnight on Dec. 18, Brianna Flores said she felt a rush of emotions.

“I didn’t think it would happen to me,” Flores said. “But lo and behold, here it is.”

Flores captured her car being broken into on camera. The video shows a person entering her vehicle through the backseat window, shifting through her car and taking items. Flores said she had hundreds of dollars in Christmas presents taken from her car. It’s the first time she’s experienced a break-in and burglary of her own, but she tells us at her apartment complex on the Northwest Side, it’s far from the first incident.

“Ever since I moved in, it’s just been like a car on cinder blocks, break-in theft, and more cars on cinder blocks,” Flores said.

Her neighbors, the Perez family, had their car stolen just a few months ago.

“My car was gone,” Tyler Perez said. “It was just stolen and vanished into thin air.”

They said their car was found about a week after it was stolen in a ditch by SAPD. But the damage was already done.

“This has gotten to the point where, you know, we don’t know where to move,” Ana Perez said. “We don’t want to live in San Antonio anymore because it’s just getting so bad.”

KSAT 12 contacted the management team from Villas at Bandera via email and over the phone for a statement. As of Saturday night, there has been no reply.

The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office said there has been an increase in vehicle break-ins and thefts, especially around the holiday season. Sheriff Javier Salazar said the most important thing after experiencing one of these crimes is to report it.

“Facebook and Nextdoor are nice for letting your neighbors know after the fact, but 911 is going to be what helps us catch somebody in the act and stop them from doing further harm,” Salazar said.

He said the best precautions residents can take are parking cars in a driveway or garage, locking vehicles up, and installing security cameras and lights.

Both Flores and the Perez family reported their situations to SAPD.