An East Vancouver family is speaking out after they caught what appears to be an attempted car theft on camera.
Irene Dumayas told Daily Hive she knew something was wrong on July 31 when she noticed the side mirror of her car was smashed outside her family’s home near Clarendon Street and 37th Avenue.
She checked her dash-cam and saw what appeared to be someone trying to open the driver’s-side door in the early hours that morning. After the door doesn’t unlock and the car beeps, a man with a suitcase walks across the street.
“It was just a stranger … they just targeted our car,” Dumayas said.
She asked their neighbour who has a security camera if they could review the footage and saw the man also approached her brother’s car just after 3:20 am.
The individual walks down the street looking at cars before walking around to the driver’s-side door of her brother’s dark-coloured vehicle. The man appears to look inside the car before going back to the sidewalk to take something out of the suitcase.
Then, the man goes to the driver’s-side door of Dumayas’ white vehicle and appears to pace and lean into it before walking away.
“I live with my parents and my siblings and everyone’s just worried. What if this happens again?” she said.
The family usually keeps their windows open during hot weather, but now they have everything locked for fear something else will occur.
Dumayas reported what happened to police and Daily Hive has asked for an update on the investigation. The Vancouver Police Department has yet to reply.
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Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to what happened as an attempted carjacking. The story has been updated.