Vandals Smash Seven Parked Cars With Hammers in Novi Sad
Unknown perpetrators wrecked seven parked cars overnight on Boulevard Europe in Novi Sad, shattering windshields with hammers and jumping on the vehicles. Police are searching for those responsible.
- Overnight on Boulevard Europe in Novi Sad, seven parked cars were wrecked.
- The perpetrators smashed windshields with hammers and jumped on the vehicles.
- The motive is unknown for now, and police are searching for those responsible.
- Owners discovered the damage only in the morning, and footage of the vandalism surfaced on social media.
Residents of Boulevard Europe in Novi Sad woke on July 20 to a row of wrecked cars. Overnight, unknown perpetrators demolished seven parked vehicles. They smashed windshields, jumped on hoods and roofs, and left shoe prints on some of the cars.
The scene is nearly identical on every vehicle. Front windshields are almost completely shattered. Hoods carry scratches and dents. On a few cars the damage is minor, just a crack in the glass, while others were struck in several places.
The owners knew nothing until morning. They had left their cars the evening before, undamaged, and returned to find them destroyed. Residents filmed the first clips themselves, and the material soon appeared on social media. One frame shows an object resembling a hammer left at the scene.
What is known about the night raid
Based on what has been established so far, this was an organized sweep of several parked vehicles along the same stretch of street. The perpetrators moved from car to car. They did not choose by make or value. The targets were the windows, above all the windshields.
Police examined the scene and are gathering information. Work is under way to establish the full facts and circumstances of the act. No one has been detained so far. Officers say they will review surveillance footage from nearby buildings, hoping it will show how the perpetrators moved.
The motive remains an open question. It is not known whether this was a personal dispute aimed at one of the owners, a settling of scores that swept up bystanders, or plain vandalism without cause. Until the pre-criminal proceedings conclude, each version stays possible.
Some residents claim this is not the first time such incidents have happened on the block. Those accounts are not yet officially confirmed. They remain for the investigating authorities to check.
Who bears the cost and what comes next
For the owners of the seven vehicles, the consequences are concrete and expensive. Replacing a windshield and repainting damaged surfaces can run into tens of thousands of dinars per car. As a rule, those affected turn to their insurers for compensation, though that depends on the type of policy each one holds.
In legal terms, an act like this can be classified as destruction and damage of another person’s property. When several vehicles are damaged within a short span of time, prosecutors weigh whether it amounts to a continued criminal offense. The total value of the damage and the number of victims affect the severity of the charge.
The key to the investigation now lies in the footage. Boulevard Europe is a busy city thoroughfare with dense residential building, so the odds that the night raid was captured on a camera are high. If identification succeeds, the perpetrators could answer both for the material damage and for the criminal offense itself.
Until then, seven owners are left with a bill they never asked for and a question no one can yet answer. Do nighttime rampages like this call for more cameras and lighting in residential areas, or does the problem run deeper than parking security alone?
