40 cars in east Belleville had their windows shot out with a BB gun. Then came the rain.
Just in time for Tuesday’s record rainfall, someone used a BB or pellet gun to shoot out the windows of more than 40 vehicles in unincorporated St. Clair County between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
St. Clair County Sheriff’s Captain Bruce Fleshren said in a press release that all of the vehicles had one or more windows shot out.
The damaged vehicles were in the Chenot Place, Lincolnshire and Weatherstone neighborhoods as well as areas on West Boulevard on the east side of Belleville.
Hours after the damage was done, an “unprecedented” amount of rainfall fell, causing damaging floods in parts of St. Louis and the metro-east, including Belleville. The rain aggravated the damage that had been done to the windows by exposing the vehicles’ interior to the heavy rain.
“Much of this occurred during the heavy rains that were passing through the area, causing vehicles to also be damaged by water as well as the broken windows,” Fleshren said.
Fleshren said deputies were able to identify a possible vehicle that was involved that was seen in the area. Anyone with information about a white Chrysler 300 or its occupants is asked to call Investigator Scott Mohrmann at 618-825-5712.
“This is is such senseless damage and destruction for someone to do,” said St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson. “To make matters worse, all this damage tied up deputies taking reports from being able to assist in areas that were affected by the flooding that needed immediate assistance.
“These types of crimes are difficult to solve and always require the public’s help. Anyone who has information is asked to call in.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 12:18 PM.
