As many as 20 vehicles targeted in recent smash-and-grab burglaries

ALTON - As many as 20 vehicles were targeted during the same incident in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Alton Public Information Officer Emily Hejna said the vehicles were parked at the Best Western Hotel, located off of College Avenue in Alton. Unlike many recent vehicle burglaries, which involved suspects gaining entry into unlocked vehicles for valuables, this case involves damage to the vehicles. Hejna said suspects entered vehicles by force, including by smashing windows. Police were alerted to the incident at just before 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

She said surveillance at the scene captured a vehicle reportedly stolen from St. Louis with multiple suspects inside. Those suspects left that vehicle and committed the smash-and-grabs in a short amount of time, Hejna said.

"What I think is important for people to remember for something like this is they did it all at one time," she said. "It was a one parking lot sort of thing. If someone sees something that looks suspicious, we need their help in knowing what's going on. We're going to increase patrols on businesses overnight. We do conduct patrols in the parking lots of businesses, but we will increase them in an attempt to thwart vehicle burglaries."

Hejna said suspects took personal items from some vehicles, but received nothing from others. She also stated criminals knowing what they were doing could burglarize multiple vehicles in a short amount of time.

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