.Police searching for suspects in multiple car burglaries

By Toni Walker
news@steelcountrybee.com
HUGHES SPRINGS – Police in Daingerfield and Hughes Springs are reminded residents to lock their vehicles after a string of car burglaries occurred over the past week.
Both towns had numerous vehicles broken into, and authorities believe the acts could be carried out by the same group that has hit other towns. In the recent cases, firearms were targeted, as in other cases.
Jay Cates, with the Hughes Springs Police Department, said “"These folks only entered unlocked vehicles looking for things of value. No damage was done to get into anything."
Video footage from a Hughes Springs homeowner shows at least four people roaming the neighborhood, searching for unlocked cars.
Footage from earlier in the week in Daingerfield shows a man with a t-shirt on his head, similarly to the Hughes Springs video.
"It's the same. Everything was the same. I'm positive it was the same group of boys," Cates says.
A disturbing part of the Hughes Springs burglaries was the suspects stopped when they found something they were looking for: a gun.
"There was some high dollar equipment that was not taken. It does look like they're looking for a weapon. They got what they wanted, once the gun was found there was no need in hanging around, they took off," says Cates.
Aside from the burglaries, the fact that guns were taken gives law enforcement and citizens in these towns a very uneasy feeling now.
Looking to be in their teens to early 20's, none have been identified yet, but police say it's urgent that they're found.
"Makes it very serious. What could happen with a gun when they take it. It could be used in a crime," says Cates.
Police from Hughes Springs and Daingerfield are working together on the case to find suspects.