British Columbia

About 100 car windows smashed in one night in Vancouver, police say

Vancouver police say they're investigating after the windows of about 100 cars were shattered across the city on Thursday.

Most of the damaged vehicles were in Marpole area, police say

A blue sedan car with its windows smashed lies parked in front of a house.
Dozens of cars parked in the Marpole area of Vancouver had their windows smashed on Thursday, according to police. (Nick Allan/CBC)

Vancouver police say they're investigating after about 100 cars had their windows smashed across the city on Thursday.

Police say most of the cars were targeted in the Marpole area, near the intersection of Granville Street and 64th Avenue. A number of cars were also targeted near Fir Street and 11th Avenue, according to a Friday statement.

Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) said in his statement that someone "appears to have indiscriminately targeted them by using an object to smash windows."

"It appears whoever did this was simply trying to cause damage," he said. "We expect the number of cases to rise as people who have not used their cars for a day or two come outside and discover damage.

"We'd like anyone who has not made a police report to contact us as soon as possible."

WATCH | Surveillance video appears to show car vandalism in Marpole: 

Surveillance video appears to show person smashing car windows in Vancouver

11 months ago
Duration 0:31
Police say they're investigating as more than 80 cars, most of them in the Marpole neighbourhood, were damaged on Thursday.

Surveillance footage of the area obtained by CBC News appears to show a person walking up to cars parked on the street Thursday morning and smashing their windows in turn.

John, a Marpole resident, said Thursday that his day was ruined by the window smashings, with all three of his family's cars damaged.

CBC News is not using John's last name to protect his safety.

"I'm an Uber driver ... I couldn't go to work today," John said Thursday.

A car with its rear window smashed sits on a rainy street.
Vancouver police say most of the smashed cars were in the Marpole area. (Submitted)

"It was so frustrating. [I was] so angry when I woke up and saw someone had broken my windows. And when I saw the video — for nothing, he smashed it for nothing."

Addison said no arrests have been made in the case, and police would be interviewing witnesses and getting video footage from the area to further their investigation.

ICBC says it has has received 18 claims as a result of the spree and it's too soon to estimate the cost of the damage.

An insurance corporation spokesperson said the claims are considered vandalism covered under optional comprehensive coverage.

With files from Nick Allan and Liam Britten