BALTIMORE — Neighbors in and around Bolton Hill are sounding the alarm, telling people to be on the lookout for someone rummaging through vehicles. They're also telling neighbors to check their cars for possible blood stains after a number of people found blood on door handles.
Individuals who made the discovery, like Jonathan Nepini, said it's was disturbing.
"Especially with everything that's going on with COVID-19," he said. "It's kind of especially nasty for someone to be getting blood all over a bunch of people's cars."
Nepini lives in the 1700 block of Bolton Street. He says he noticed the blood mark on his car around Tuesday after people on his Nextdoor app posted about similar findings.
"I noticed just a little bit of blood on my passenger door," he said. "It's like someone with a bloody hand tried to open the door."
Nepini says nothing was taken. His doors were locked.
"I try to be vigilant about those things," he said.
Brittney-Elizabeth Williams wasn't so lucky.
A month ago Williams' vehicle was vandalized with blood. She lives behind Penn Station near East Lanvale and Charles Street.
"None of my windows were broken," she said. "It started on the inside and then was on the outside. I noticed small things were taken."
Willams' burglary happened April 8, nearly a month before the Bolton Hill attempted burglaries. It's unclear if the crimes are related.
"It's still disturbing," said Williams. "I saw people posting about it online and I knew I wasn't alone."
She said she did a deep clean of her car to get the stains out. She even bought car seat covers to cover up what she couldn't remove.
"It took me almost a week to get back in my own car. I was really freaked out by the idea of it. When I finally did get back it I was just grossed out by it to be honest. I used gloves and a lot of bleach."
WMAR-2 News reached out to Baltimore Police regarding the attempted break-ins. The department couldn't comment as investigators didn't see any official reports.
If you are a victim of a car break-in or burglary you are encouraged to fill out an online police report, even if nothing was taken.
