Dozens of car windows smashed overnight in Fairmount vandalism spree

Fairmount residents had a rude awakening Wednesday morning as shards of glass littered the streets where dozens of car windows had been smashed.

Police cruisers rolled down Parrish Street just south of Girard College Wednesday morning, where officers reported 26 cars with busted windows across several blocksand some estimated as many as 50 cars had been damaged.

The motive was unknown, as nothing was reported stolen from any of the vehicles.

“There has been a rash of cars being broken into, but this feels different, more haphazard,” said resident Greg Vincent, while surveying the scene from his front porch on Wednesday morning.

He said in eight years in the neighborhood he hasn’t seen anything like this. But an older resident recalled a tire-slashing spree on the block 15 years ago.

Police said officers on patrol discovered the vandalism just before 5 a.m. near 18thand Poplar streets, and continued to find more and more damaged cars, including on Parrish Street between 22ndand 25thstreets and lower on 25thStreet toward Fairmount Avenue.

Passers-by at the scene of the vandalism said they believed police might already have asuspect in custody, but no details on an arrest or criminal charges were reported by police Wednesday morning.