SAN JOSE — A crew of vandals broke into five new homes in the Alum Rock hills early Sunday and damaged appliances, broke doors and trashed the interiors of the spacious homes that had just been placed on the market.

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18 arrested as part of FBI investigation into illegal ghost guns, narcotics sales in California The vandals caused at least $50,000 worth of damage, said Jessica Coons, the listing agent for the two-story, 3,500-square-foot homes, who said San Jose police called her about 3:45 a.m. Sunday.

“Oh my God, why? Why would anyone do this?” she said. “They took cabinet doors off and snapped them in half. It was malicious. There was no need for it.”

In what neighbors suspect was an orchestrated attack, at least two carloads of looters reportedly pulled up to for-sale homes on Rosemar Court and Rosemar Avenue about 3 a.m. and threw rocks to break street lights. They broke windows and doors to get into the vacant homes, whose listing prices are from $1.67 million to $1.76 million. Inside, they continued an orgy of vandalism, according to a neighbor who was awakened by the commotion and by barking dogs.

“They were screaming profanities,” said the fearful neighbor, who with her husband witnessed the rampage from outside their home and did not want to be identified. “They grabbed something — I’m not sure if it was in their cars — and they were bashing in the beautiful windows.”

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The damage was inflicted in perhaps 15 minutes, the neighbor said, then the vandals piled into cars — at least one red and one white — and left.

A second neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said security cameras at his residence recorded the arrival of 10 cars between 1:37 and 1:41 a.m., three of which parked in front of his home. A large of group of people was then recorded walking up Rosemar Avenue, said the neighbor, adding that he provided police with the license plate numbers of the three cars that parked in front of his house. At about 2:53 a.m., a person also was recorded trying to open the doors of cars parked on the street, including the neighbor’s.

San Jose police were called to the neighborhood around 1:50 a.m. for reports of a disturbance, with more than 20 people gathering in the area, Officer Albert Morales said. Dispatchers told responding officers that because the houses “have not been finished yet, no one should be over there.” But by the time officers arrived, the group had fled the area.

Coons said police had warned her over the phone that damage to the homes she was showing was “significant.” Still, when she and a representative of the builder, Latala Homes, arrived about 8 a.m., she was shocked at all the shattered glass, damaged interiors and mud tracked all over.

Coons said the homes had been under construction for about a year, were just completed Friday and shown to the public on Saturday. They were empty and had not been staged, Coons said.

In the first neighbor’s eyes, the vandalism is part of an escalation in neighborhood crime: stolen mail and parcels, break-ins and strangers impersonating utility workers or security-company representatives and making inquiries.

“We are fearful of what’s taking place in this quiet neighborhood,” said the neighbor, who has lived in her home for 17 years. Before, she said, “if anything, you might hear a coyote. Last night, it was a horror show.”

She and Coons were both critical of diminished police staffing and patrols.

It was not the first time that Coons, who specializes in marketing new homes, has had a home burglarized. But this was the worst incident, she said. She doesn’t understand the wanton destruction.

“If it was Greenpeace people angry about their frog land, I’d understand,” she said. “This is helping people get homes.”

She has hired a security guard to watch over the property.



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After spending six hours cleaning and getting windows boarded up Sunday, she hosted an open house in the afternoon, just, as had been advertised.

“We had a great turnout,” she said. Some visitors asked why the windows were broken.

“Some didn’t, oddly enough,” Coons said. “The market is crazy and people need a place to live.”

Staff writer Jason Green contributed to this report.