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Rash Of Burglaries Hit S. Minneapolis Neighborhood

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Burglars are hitting a Minneapolis neighborhood hard, and after close to a half-dozen break-ins last week alone, residents fear the crime could continue.

In fact, one group of guys pulled up a moving truck to a home off the 2900 block of 37th Avenue South and tried cleaning it out. An alert neighbor next door saw them and stopped them before they could get away with anything.

"This is a lot. This is a frightening turn of events," said Kate Remus, who lives in the Longfellow neighborhood which is being targeted.

She and other residents are warning fellow neighbors about how burglars are doing the job. Emails these residents have sent talk of burglars knocking on doors to see if anyone's home, before breaking the back or front doors to get in.

Other burglars have cut screens to gain access to homes during daylight hours, and in once instance, burglars climbed onto a second-floor porch to get in.

These crimes are happening on the southeast side of the city. Residents have been tracking these burglaries, and they're all happening, they say, within a few blocks of one another -- between 40th Avenue South and 32nd Avenue South, just north of Lake Street.

Residents report at least seven burglaries the last few months. T.J. Kopal said that he was the first resident in the area to get burglarized in August.

"The stereo was ripped out. The wires were hanging out of the dashboard. The guitars were gone. So I first went in and told my wife what happened. Then I immediately called police," he said.

Burglars got away with three guitars, including two of his own and one that his buddy's brother owned. He put them in the garage when he got home from his band performance at a Minneapolis bar, only to find them gone by the morning.

Kopal's stolen guitars simply can't be replaced, he said. He's had them since high school, and they have sentimental value.

Kopal and other residents hope to soon meet with a Community Service Officer in the Minneapolis Police Department to discuss the ongoing problem. Neighbors say they have noticed more police patrolling the area lately.

"I definitely think people need to keep their eyes open," Remus said.

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