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"Pokemon Go" is a new augmented reality game that uses Google Maps data to populate the real world with Nintendo's titular creatures. A man playing the game in Eugene Sunday night said he called police after he saw a man throw a rock through the window of a restaurant

(Eder Campuzano/The Oregonian/OregonLive)

A man playing Pokemon Go in Eugene Sunday night helped police nab an alleged vandal who officials say smashed the windows out of two Chinese restaurants.

The player, Michael Andrade, gave the wildly popular augmented reality game partial credit for the arrest.

In a post to Reddit, Andrade said he was "on the town in the middle of the night with my buddy. We were sitting in his car next to three pokestops that we all lured. Just chillin and catching pokemon and such."

For the uninitiated, Pokemon Go uses Google Map data to populate the real world with such critters as Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Charmander. Players walk around to "pokestops" to collect the creatures and will often set "lures" as Andrade described.

Andrade and his friend caught more than just a digital trophy when they saw a man chuck a rock through the windows of the Lotus Garden restaurant on Charnelton Street just before 2 a.m. Sunday.

"Called 911 for the very first time, (police) were there within minutes," Andrade wrote. "In less than 30 minutes they had the guy cuffed and on the sidewalk."

Eugene police confirmed they received calls about the busted windows at 1:49 a.m. Sunday and, after receiving good descriptions of the rock thrower, arrested 39-year-old Bernard Shifman.

Shifman is also suspected of breaking windows at Jade Palace on 7th Avenue in Eugene, but police are still investigating whether he is linked to a few other similar incidents in the area, which officials said have specifically targeted Asian restaurants.

Andrade said the streets were empty when the windows were smashed and, if it weren't for the game, he never would've been out at that time of night.

"If i wasnt for Pokemon go, nobody would have even been over there to see the incident," he wrote. "It was completely dead there, in the middle of the night until this game."

Last week a Wyoming woman discovered a dead body in a river while playing the game, though in Missouri a group of teens allegedly used the game to lure players to a remote location before robbing them at gunpoint, The Guardian reported.

In Eugene, Shifman was arrested on two counts of criminal mischief and disorderly conduct police said.

-- Kale Williams

kwilliams@oregonian.com

503-294-4048