‘Lock your car’: String of auto burglaries targets east Las Cruces neighborhood

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- Police are reminding east Las Cruces residents to lock their vehicles after surveillance video captured teenagers opening doors and stealing items inside the cars.

The crimes happened in the early morning hours earlier this week off of Roadrunner Parkway, on Cheyenne and Stagecoach drives, according to police.

"Ironically, some of the victims had surveillance cameras on their property but left their vehicles unlocked," read a news release from the department.

Mark McGowan, a resident of the neighborhood for more than a year, told ABC-7 that he made that mistake only once.

"One night, I didn't lock up the Durango and I came out the next day and the door was kind of half opened, like almost shut but not really shut," McGowan explained. "They didn't steal anything, they just kind of went through all the paperwork."

Calling most auto burglaries "a crime of opportunity," police said the crime often happens when residents leave their doors unlocked and valuables in plain sight.

"Lock your car," McGowan said. "You don't know why people want to get in it, but lock the doors."

Investigators asked anyone with information on the burglars to call police at (575) 526-0795.