22 vehicle burglaries reported Friday morning in Wilmette

Police are warning residents about a series of nearly two dozen vehicle burglaries reported early Friday morning in north suburban Wilmette.

Officers were called about an auto burglary in progress at 4:49 a.m. in the 700 block of Lacrosse Avenue, according to a statement from Wilmette police. When they arrived, the suspects sped away in three vehicles.

Further investigation revealed a total of 22 burglaries to unlocked vehicles parked on the street or in driveways in the area, police said. Surveillance footage from a resident showed a group of people trying doors on parked vehicles while two vehicles followed them.

The majority of the unlocked vehicles had been rummaged through without anything being taken, police said. Loose coins were taken from some of them. Three men’s suits were taken from one vehicle, and a set of house keys were stolen from another.

At 8:07 a.m., a resident in the 700 block of Lamon Avenue reported his vehicle stolen, police said. It had been left unlocked with the key fob in it. Chicago Police later found the vehicle parked in the 5500 block of South Racine Avenue.

While searching the area, Wilmette officers also found a vehicle that had been reported stolen in Lake County left in the middle of the street in the 600 block of Lacrosse, police said. Skokie police found one of the vehicles that had sped away from the initial burglary abandoned at Oakton Avenue and Skokie Boulevard. This vehicle had been reported stolen from Indiana. Both vehicles had the keys inside.