AUSTIN, Texas — People living at Riata Apartments in northwest Austin hope police will catch what they believe are serial thieves.
Around this time last year, people living at the complex spoke with KVUE about people experiencing homelessness trespassing through a hole in the fence and stealing. That issue was fixed within a few days, but now residents say there is a new problem.
"We're hearing it more frequently now," one resident named Laurie said.
Laurie said numerous residents have posted about their cars being broken into on various days and the videos show what appears to be the same two people.
"So we're starting to notice that there's a pattern of it being the same individuals," Laurie said. "They're always wearing black masks."
The latest burglaries happened last week, on July 14. In Ring camera video shared with KVUE, two men can be seen walking around in masks, checking cars.
"About 11 to 15 vehicles were hit," Laurie said. "I do have the proof of all those vehicles being hit."
In other photos, you can see the windows were busted out of several cars. Laurie's vehicle wasn't hit, but her camera caught the men right outside of her place, trying to hit there next.
"It's very unsettling that I wake up in the middle of the night and have to keep checking my windows," Laurie said.
A bit earlier, on June 21, another group of vehicles was hit. Surveillance video shows two men wearing masks, black hoodies, black pants and sneakers walking around the lots.
A Ring camera photo from February, when a gun was stolen, shows one suspect wearing the exact same outfit as the most recent case. This is all evidence Laurie said she's been trying to share with Austin police.
"What they did say is, 'This is not a high-priority case,'" Laurie SAID. "'It doesn't involve murder or rape, so we won't really be looking at this.' They would not look at my videos."
In an email sent to residents, Riata acknowledged it is working to fix the front gate and possibly get license plate readers to track every car coming in and out.
Communications staff with the APD told KVUE they are looking into our request for more information.
Laurie just hopes to see something done before more cars are broken into and more property is stolen.
"I hope that we get more police involvement," Laurie said. "We need security here between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. because this is going to keep happening."