BB gun vandals target dozens of vehicles in Costa Mesa

COSTA MESA, Calif. (KABC) -- A Costa Mesa neighborhood is on edge following what appears to be a string of BB gun shootings targeting car windows.

Reggie Wells woke up Tuesday morning to find several police cars outside his house and the passenger side window of his truck shattered. He said he heard a loud noise around 3:30 a.m.

"It sounded like a chopping sound, like wood chopping," Wells said.

The Costa Mesa Police Department says the sound Wells heard was a BB gun and that many people in the neighborhood also heard it. Detectives say vandals shot out the windows of more than 30 vehicle and even hit the bedroom window of one home.

Police are reviewing surveillance video hoping to find leads in the case.

One of the victims, who did not want to be identified, showed Eyewitness News surveillance video that shows a dark sedan and what appears to be a person hanging out of the back window. The car slows down by a truck and then speeds off.

Jacob Akiva has lived in Costa Mesa for 35 years and calls the neighborhood safe. He had the following message for the suspects: "Please don't do it again. Don't go and vandalize people's property. That's not the right thing to do, even though, I guess, you don't have anything else to do."

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with further information was asked to call the Costa Mesa Police Department at (714) 754-5637.