Vandals smashed windows and stole personal belongings from more than a dozen vehicles belonging to residents of the Como Student Community Cooperative on Saturday night.
The vandals damaged cars parked in Lot C of the University student family housing complex located at Southeast 27th and East Hennepin avenues. Others reported car damage in the 1000 block of East Hennepin Avenue.
“The lock was broken–both sides,” said cooperative resident Seongjin Lee, commenting on her and her husband’s 1990 Toyota Camry. “It was vandalism. The car was not an expensive one.”
Although car owners reported mainly broken windows, some also lost personal belongings.
According to University Police, one woman lost a cellular phone. A man lost an $80 radar detector. Another resident was missing a $100 car stereo. Still others reported stolen money and sliced car seats.
Cooperative resident Rob Strong was spared from the vandalism. But he heard neighbors’ complaints the next day.
“It was a bad day,” said Strong, a graduate student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. “Hardly any window places were open on Sunday, so they had to plastic up their windows on Sunday.”
Strong added some thought Saturday night’s storms might have worked in the vandals’ favor, causing residents to mistake breaking glass for thunder.
Jerry Erickson, cooperative general manager, said a security monitor patrolled the grounds most of the night but did not notice the break-ins.
Three weeks ago, however, monitors caught and turned a vandal over to police, Erickson added.
The 360-unit cooperative covers an extensive area bounded by Hennepin and Como avenues on the north and south and by 29th and 27th avenues on the east and west.
University Police Capt. Steve Johnson asks that anyone with information call 624-3550 and ask to speak with an investigator.
“I’m sure that the people who had their windows smashed would appreciate it too,” Johnson added.

In other police news:
ù A woman allegedly stabbed an acquaintance with a short kitchen knife Sunday morning after a small late-night party in the Como neighborhood.
The victim, a 26-year-old St. Paul man, was treated at the Hennepin County Medical Center, according to the police report.
Minneapolis police said the suspect had fled by the time they arrived at the duplex in the 1000 block of 26th Avenue Southeast shortly after 6 a.m.
Lt. Steve Kincaid said officers found empty beer bottles at the scene.
Somebody decided to settle their differences with a knife, Kincaid added.
A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said an argument got out of hand, adding the woman was very drunk.
ùThieves broke into two University offices Thursday evening, hauling away several thousand dollars worth of computer equipment.
The first burglary occurred on the fourth floor the Phillips-Wangensteen Building in a suite used by the Department of Dermatology.
Deb Levier, department associate administrator, said the burglar took the “whole deal, right down to the mouse.”
The Dell computer system, which belonged to a doctor, was valued at $4,000, according to the police report.
A second burglary occurred on the 16th floor of the adjacent Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower in an office belonging to the Department of Oral Sciences.
“They took my computer and Dr. Delong’s monitor,” said Marilynn Erickson, department principle secretary.
That loss exceeded $2,000, according to the police report.

Robert Koch covers police and courts and welcomes comments at [email protected]