A string of burglaries in Mira Mesa is still growing, San Diego police said Thursday.
Police previously said eight burglaries were believed to be related to the same suspects, but that number has now jumped to 11, according to Lt. David Bautista with the San Diego Police Department.
Police said the first case occurred on Feb. 2, and the most recent case occurred on March 3.
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Investigators believe they all appear to be related due to the suspects’ burglary tactics. Once the suspects identify a target location, they enter the home through a back sliding door, according to San Diego police. In some cases, the glass door was broken to gain entry. The victims' homes have all been unoccupied during the incidents.
The police department is asking for the public's help in identifying the suspects. There could be as many as five suspects, and police described them as men in their late teens and early twenties in a news release on Monday.
SDPD also released a new surveillance video on Thursday that shows one of the suspects inside one of the homes.
If you're leaving home, police say to be sure to lock all your doors and windows.
"Activate any alarms that you have available at your home and consider leaving lights or a television on to give the appearance that somebody is home and that the home is occupied," Bautista said.
At this point, investigators say it is unclear whether the suspects are tied to any burglaries outside of the Mira Mesa area.
Mira Mesa burglaries spark safety concerns among neighbors
Neighbors NBC 7 talked with in the Mira Mesa neighborhood worry about their safety, especially after learning their home is one that these burglars have targeted.
Surveillance video captured the moment five burglars broke into Ryley Duong’s home over the weekend. The video shows all of them in hoodies and wearing masks.
“It seems like something that they thought of ahead of time and profiled the house to know when people leave,” Duong, one of the burglary victims, said.
Duong said it happened within one hour. He left for dinner, and when he came back, he was surprised by what he found.
“When I went back, seems like things inside the house were messed up and got thrown all over the place, especially in the bedroom because that’s where they accessed it through the patio door,” Duong said.
Duong's case is one of the burglaries in the Mira Mesa neighborhood that police believe to be related because the suspects use the same tactics.
Another victim, who asked to remain anonymous, said the burglars smashed her back sliding door and sifted through every room in the home on Sunday night. The burglars took thousands of dollars in cash and family valuables that she said are irreplaceable.
“Those drawers and cabinets, they were all open and they pulled everything out,” the victim told NBC 7. “All the cash, all the jewelries. I came from China. I have generations and generations, mother-in-laws, all those jewelries."
Both victims said they feel very uneasy, even in their own homes.
“Unsafe, perhaps, unsafe. You don’t know when it’s going to happen,” Duong said.
Police are asking anyone with information on these burglaries to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
