Residents in fear for their lives after thieves target senior living community

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SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Two dozen cars with windows smashed is all that's left after thieves broke into all of them in one night.

The victims are all residents of a senior living community.

"All I saw was glass outside my car. At first, I thought it was an isolated incident," said Julia Dudley.

After her initial shock, she says she realized she was just one of 24 people who were targeted.

When Dudley woke up for work on Tuesday morning, she realized someone broke into her car and shattered her front passenger window.

"I shouldn't have to pay this high rent I'm paying here and be fearful," she told Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez.

Her fear comes after College Park police say thieves targeted her 55-plus senior living community.  It happened in one of the back-parking lots at the Princeton Court Apartments around 10 the night before.

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“We have no cameras around the building anywhere and no adequate lighting," she said.

She took her concerns to the property owners but the the property manager told her there was nothing they could do.

"I was told that they were not aware that any incident happened on this property at all yesterday," Dudley said.

On Wednesday evening, Jaquez confronted the property manager.

She told her she couldn’t talk but would come back with the owner’s business card. Instead, she called police to have Jaquez removed from the property.

But dozens of concerned residents like Dorothy Steel, 91, called Channel 2 Action News to get answers:

“I went to the office and beef up security after this incident? She said, 'No.' So I said, 'Basically I'm on my own?' She said, 'Yes,'" Steel said.

Steel says that lack of compassion has her questioning whether she wants to live here anymore.

"Does someone have to be killed before you do anything and then would it matter?" she wonders.

Jaquez reached out to the property owners but hasn't yet received a response.

College Park police said they already have warrants out for at least one suspect because they say, he dropped his cellphone in one of the cars.