(Murfreesboro, TN) As reported earlier, there has been a recent rash of vehicle break-ins. Between March 1st and May 8, 2022 there have been 184 reports of vehicle break-ins and motor vehicle thefts in Murfreesboro, according to CrimeMapping.com.

Highlighting some of the recent crimes…

1 Victim told police she parked her car at Planet Fitness and while inside exercising, someone broke the rear window out of her car. The thief evidently took a duffel bag that was left in the vehicle while the victim was inside the South Church Street fitness center. Planet Fitness does not have video footage of the theft and no arrests have been made.

Across town in a separate incident, a victim told authorities he parked his truck outside of Walmart on Old Fort Parkway and while inside the retailer, someone stole 6-bags of mulch from bed of his pickup truck. There are no known suspects in the theft that added up to about 120 pounds, or 72-cubic feet of mulch.

Murfreesboro Police Public Information Officer Larry Flowers said that surprisingly, most of the vehicle break-ins did not involve shattered windows...



After reviewing footage from home security videos…



Some of the commercial areas hit by auto-burglars included parking lots of businesses on Old Fort Parkway and South Church Street. Residential areas with a high volume of vehicle break-ins included Highway 96 at Brinkley Road, the Cedar Retreat subdivision off Florence Road, the Westlawn neighborhood off Veterans Parkway, the Blackman Station subdivision and more.

Again, police suggest that motorist not leave valuables in their vehicle and most importantly, lock your doors.

Scroll down for more and to learn how guns are being stolen...

Car break-ins - Continued...

Handguns and rifles left unattended, sometimes in unlocked vehicles, is another problem…



Just outside of Rutherford County in nearby Nashville, the rising number of vehicle break-ins is an even bigger problem for police. So far this year, nearly 70% of all guns stolen in the Nashville area were taken from vehicles. Of the 711 guns stolen in Music City this year, 496 of them were stolen from vehicles.

This past week, 52 car burglaries were reported in Davidson County. Like the Murfreesboro break-ins, 34 of the 52 vehicles broken into were unlocked.