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Vandals target Sudbury seniors, breaking 11 car windows

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Sudbury -

Several Sudbury seniors are still cleaning up after their car windows were smashed over the Thanksgiving weekend.

At least 11 vehicles at Place Nolin in the Flour Mill were damaged while their owners slept, and some even had some belongings stolen. A similar incident reportedly happened in the Minnow Lake area, as well.

Andre Tasse was one of the unlucky few who woke up to find broken glass.

"Monday morning around 9 o'clock, I get a phone call from one of the girls in the other apartments who told me they broke a lot of windows in the parking lot, so I came out and there was a lot of people out here," said Tasse.

"So we got together, we got a vacuum and we cleaned all the glass out of the cars and put plastic on the windows in case it rained -- but there's 11 cars here that got hit."

Tasse figures 11 out of 14 cars in the parking lot at the time were hit.

"I've been here about 11 years and this is the fourth time," he said. "Twice it was only mine and the last time there was only three of us. This time there's 11."

One of the cars belonged to Gilles Fournier, who was in Sudbury visiting his mother at the time.

"The back window was broken and I checked in and there's a big mess, ripped apart, they had gone through the glove department and some of the panels were ripped out," said Fournier.

He estimated there's about $1,500 in damage. Fournier said he had to rent a vehicle to return to Timmins and will have to take another day off work to get his car once it's ready.

"I don't feel the facility is secure," Fournier said. "They've been hit several times so I feel like I have to rent a hotel room to be safer, so yeah, it has other impacts than just financial."

CTV News spoke with the building manager, who said there was CCTV footage they'll be making available to the police, but the video isn't close enough to capture any identifiable features.

Still waiting for police

Several residents filed police reports, but Tasse said as of Tuesday, they had yet to see an officer.

CTV News also reached out to the Greater Sudbury Police Service who did send us the following statement:

"Although these types of crimes are primarily reported after the fact and at times nothing has been taken, it is important that community members report these incidents through our online reporting system. The information collected from online reports generates crime analytics that allow officers to conduct focused patrols in high-complaint areas based on time of day that the crimes are generally taking place. This assists us in deploying resources to the right place at the right time."

Among some police safety tips is a reminder to lock your vehicle, park in a well-lit area, remove all the valuables and consider installing an anti-theft device.

Insurance experts said they do take incidents like this into account.

"The only reason your insurance premium would increase because of an incident is typically if you were at fault because of an accident, then you would have seen an increase," said Anne Marie Thomas of the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

"If you're not at fault then there would be no increase and particularly in this case -- it's clearly vandalism and theft."

They add when dealing with something like this, it's always important to consult your insurance provider. 

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