Crime scenes in Bonn, Niederkassel and Troisdorf Serial offender reportedly smashes at least 82 car windows

Niederkassel · Late Thursday evening, the windows of at least 35 parked vehicles were smashed in on the other side of the Rhine in Niederkassel. Police believe this may be linked to previous incidents.

 A vandal smashed a car window in Niederkassel, one incident in a series.

A vandal smashed a car window in Niederkassel, one incident in a series.

Foto: Ulrich Felsmann

The elegant single-family houses and well-kept front gardens line Schlesierstrasse and Habsburgerstrasse; the glass shards from the night previous have long since been swept away. On Thursday evening, a vandal smashed the windows of at least 35 parked vehicles in Rheidt and Mondorf, practically while driving past them.

"If I had caught him," says an affected Mondorf resident, but doesn't finish the sentence. The anger is written all over his face. Another resident appears rather calm. No, he hadn't noticed anything about the destruction in the night. It was only in the morning that he was alerted by his neighbor at about 5:30 a.m. by a ring of the doorbell. It was when he was about to go out with his two dogs. "That is so unnecessary", was his only comment. He had covered the side window of his VW van with foil. He immediately called the police to report the incident, but they had long since recorded his license plate number.

A spokesman for the district police authority said that "the people affected automatically receive a police report" as he confirmed the incident. On Thursday evening, the first incident was reported at about 11:50 pm. Witnesses saw a cyclist on Habsburgerstraße who rode past the vehicles and smashed the side windows. A search begun immediately, involving several patrol cars. A helicopter of the Düsseldorf Flight Squadron was called in to assist the police. Several persons were checked, but they did not turn out to be suspects, according to the police.

Meanwhile, there were further reports of damaged vehicles on Schlesierstrasse, Hessenweg, Beckergasse, Hohen Rain and Rheinallee. The police estimate the damage to property at several thousand euros.

Already on Tuesday the side windows of 19 parked cars had been smashed tp pieces in Niederkassel-Mondorf and Troisdorf-Bergheim. The windows on at least 28 parked cars and three shop windows had also been smashed in the city center of Bonn and in Beuel. Is there a connection? "If you look at it on a map and take into account the crime, a connection cannot be ruled out," said the spokesman for the district police. They are also already in contact with their Bonn counterparts. The suspect apparently traveled from Bonn via Beuel, Mondorf to Niederkassel.

Witness interviews pointed to a cyclist dressed in dark clothing and traveling with a backpack. "We have a couple of very good clues that we are now working on," said the police spokesman. Nevertheless, the police continue to ask the public to come forward if they have any information about suspicious persons. The police in Siegburg on 022 41/541-0 and the police in Bonn on 0228/150 are taking all tips.

Those affected must now make an effort to settle the damages. "Of course this is very annoying, because we have to do without the car when it goes into the workshop," said the resident from Schlesierstraße. He and his neighbors thought about how the culprit could break the windows so quickly. An expert said it is not a problem with an emergency hammer, for example. The laminated glass is made to be quickly smashed in an emergency -- but only in an emergency.

(Orig. text: Dylan Cem Akalin; Translation: ck)

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