Residents offer reward after vandalism

Talk about it

Whoever keyed more than 20 cars in East Hastings Sunday night apparently didn’t know who they were messing with.

The victims of the string of vandalism have pooled their money and are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible.

“They keyed over 22 vehicles that we know of so far,” said Mike Reuter, one of the victims.

Reuter had three of his vehicles keyed. Several of his neighbors also had two or three vehicles damaged. Some of the cars were parked on the street and some were in driveways.

“That’s a lot of damage,” he said. “You’re talking in the upper $15,000 range in damages.”

Sure, Reuter says most people’s insurance will cover the repairs, but they still have to pay their deductibles. More importantly, however, he said it’s about catching the people responsible and not letting it happen again.

“We want to put a stop to it, and we’re going to try to find out who did it,” he said.

When Reuter called Hastings Police on Monday morning to report the damage to his vehicles, he and the responding officer began going around to some of his neighbors to see if their cars had been hit too. One vehicle after another, they discovered more damage. Air was let out of some tires, too, Reuter said.

Cars were hit all over East Hastings, from East Fourth Street to near the railroad tracks, Reuter said.

It’s not known exactly when the damage occurred, but one of Reuter’s neighbors got up around 1 a.m. Monday morning when his dog began barking outside. He saw his motion light on outside, so Reuter thinks the damage may have occurred around then.

“Someone was out there,” he said.

If readers have information about who may be responsible, they’re encouraged to call Hastings Police at 480-2300, or Mike Reuter at 651-253-8887.

Tags: local news, crime and courts, news, vandalism, reward