After a handful of car break-ins over the last few weeks, neighbors in Bay Park say - thieves are preying on them.
Mark Hannibal thinks the thief was in the area trying unlocked doors. They got lucky on his car and made their way in.
"I just felt really violated," said Hannibal.
He woke up Monday morning to find the hatch of his Nissan Scion wide open. It was parked in his driveway on Cowley Way. His valuable photography equipment was gone.
"Definitely the oh crap feeling," said Hannibal.
Hannibal works as a real estate photographer creating videos of houses for sales. He owned all of his own equipment. The thief took his tri-pods, lights and batteries totaling $3,000.
"It's just stuff, honestly, it's replaceable," he said.
Hannibal even used a blanket to cover his equipment. "Normally when I put mys tuff in the car, I try to make sure it's hidden," he said.
He's not the only one. A crime map for the area shows 9 reported car break-ins in the last month and a half. Other neighbors wrote on Nextdoor they had their cars broken into as well.
"That same night, about 5 or 6 other people got hit," said Hannibal.
He has streetlights in front of his home, but he wants to make even more security improvements and warn his neighbors.
"It hurts when something like this is taken from you but I do forgive the thief for taking it," said Hannibal.
10News checked with San Diego Police Dept. to find out how many car break-in reports they've received and if they made any arrests. We're still waiting to hear back.
