Vandals smash windows of 8 stores in Ventura

VENTURA, Calif. (KABC) -- The owners of at least half a dozen shops in Ventura were left picking up the pieces Friday after vandals smashed their windows.

Most of the vandalism took place along East Main Street in downtown Ventura between Thursday afternoon and early Friday morning. No items appeared to be taken.

Moe Tahir, who owns Carpet Galleria, got a call from a neighboring business owner early Friday morning about his front window being shattered.

"This hurts, because my store looks like junk right now. You want to look nice for the customers to come and see the store and now all they see is plywood," Tahir said.

None of the eight stores affected have security cameras in front of their stores.

"We don't have any suspect information right now. What we have found is some steel ball bearings at a couple of locations, so it's giving us a little bit of an indication of how they're being broken. Not sure if they're throwing them or shooting them with a slingshot or something," Ventura Police Comm. Ryan Meeks said.

Meeks says he's hoping surveillance video from a couple of bank ATMs will show something.

Employees at the Olde Towne Jewel and Loan store and the child abuse and neglect thrift store around the corner say having boarded up windows will hurt business.

"It is frustrating, because we'll probably lose a little business. We're losing the window space. People can't see our products," said Ray Stoyanoff, thrift store owner.

"We like people to look in. Now that's it's all boarded up, so we've got a problem," said Larry Watt with Olde Towne Jewelry and Loan.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Ventura police at (805) 339-4416.