Several Scripps Ranch neighbors are reporting attempted car thefts and vehicle break-ins after incidents over the weekend were captured on home security cameras. Surveillance video from about 4:30 a.m. Friday shows three people wearing masks and hoodies walking through the Scripps Highlands neigh borhood. One resident said the group appeared to be trying to steal cars or break into them. The suspects were first discovered after the alarm on a sports car went off. The vehicle’s owner, who asked to be identified only as Jessica, said someone broke a window and started the car, but an anti-theft device prevented it from being stolen. “They have masks on, so their faces can’t be seen. They each have a different hoodie,” Jessica said. Jessica said she spent about four hours that day collecting surveillance videos from neighbors in an effort to piece together what happened. “So violated. Absolutely so violated,” she said. Jessica later found video showing what she believes may have been the suspects’ getaway car, a dark-colored sedan parked around the corner. She also began looking into other reported crimes and found reports of break-ins just a few blocks from her home the following night on Farmingdale. Jessica said she also saw a video posted to a Riverside-area neighborhood group that later appeared on Instagram. She believes the person seen kicking a home’s front door in that video may be the same individual who tried to steal her car because of a similar hoodie. “I audibly gasped because I felt that was the same hoodie,” Jessica said. Jessica said she worries the recent incidents resemble a pattern that affected the neighborhood in 2023, when a Chilean gang of home invaders targeted Scripps Ranch. During a three-month period that year, six homes were burglarized, including some in Scripps Highlands. “I feel a huge sense of urgency to nip this in the bud because I would hate for this to become what we lived through a few years ago,” Jessica said. “Oh no, are we about to be in for a second round of endless, persistent, brazen robberies?” In previous NBC San Diego reporting on home invasions, investigators said those crews typically work an area and move on quickly once police become involved. Jessica said she wonders whether similar groups may be operating again. Police have made no arrests in connection with the case and have not made any connection between the attempted car theft in Scripps Ranch, the nearby break-ins, or the Riverside-area incident. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less