ROUND ROCK, Texas — The Round Rock Police Department and Williamson County Sheriff's Office are investigating a rash of car burglaries that occurred early Wednesday morning.
Thieves broke into more than 40 cars parked at three apartment complexes -- Belmont Place, Apple Creek, and Red Hills Villas -- off of Gattis School Road in East Round Rock, according to police.
About 15 minutes away, thieves burglarized at least 10 vehicles in the Paloma Lake neighborhood, Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody said Wednesday.
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It's unclear if these cases of car burglaries are related, but a Round Rock police spokesperson told KVUE the subjects used similar methods of operation.
Several residents at Apple Creek Apartments told KVUE officers knocked on their doors early in the morning to inform them thieves had broken into their cars.
"The police officer banged on my door real hard. 'Hey, can you come here? I think your car's been broken into.' Walked down. My window's completely shattered," Jaidyn Quinfowler said, as she taped up a garbage bag in place of where her front passenger window used to be.
Just a few cars down from her, Dathan Ross helped his mother repair her broken car window.
"There was about six of us in a row that got hit back to back. So there was glass everywhere," Ross said. "It was just a rough wake."
He said a window repair company gave him a quote of more than $200 to replace the front passenger window, but he managed to find a used window at a junkyard for a quarter of the price.
"This time of the year, holiday season, not everybody's got that kind of money," he said.
Still, it's a purchase he wishes he didn't have to make.
"Honestly, it would've been different if there was things of values that we had, but my car was empty. There was nothing in here," Ross said. "They just purely busted the windows just to bust them."
Jeffery Rogers, who's lived at Belmont Place Apartments across the street for about a year, told KVUE it's the first time he's had to deal with something like this.
"I'm hoping they get caught. And they pay for what they did. It's a lot of damage that these people have to deal with now," he said.
Thieves broke the driver's window of his work truck, but they didn't steal anything. He's thankful his personal car wasn't targeted.
"I just moved. We just paid our rent to move in. Having to replace a window that's $200 to $300. We got Christmas right around the corner. It's hard," he said.
Round Rock police officers and Williamson County sheriff's deputies are investigating. If you saw or heard anything early Wednesday morning, give them a call.