Viral video shows South Salem car break-in

A family in South Salem says their neighborhood continues to be terrorized by car and home burglars, and now they have a video going viral on social media to prove it.

Natalie and Heng Him called Salem Police after they discovered they had video of four young men or boys breaking into their Cadillac Escalade early Thursday morning.

The four, Natalie Him said, didn’t get much in the break-in, but when the thieves, who she estimated are between the ages of “maybe 16 to 20,” noticed a working camera is trained on her car, they attempt to shoot it out with what appears to be an air rifle.

Natalie said the shooter missed the camera, but either pellet-gun or BB-gun shot hit their house. A light flashing from the weapon can be seen on the video.

“We call it my Mom Car, so we don’t leave anything valuable in it. They didn’t get much beyond a flashlight. But they used a gun for a Minnie Mouse sippy cup,” Natalie said. “It’s crazy, right?”

Natalie said the video shows the four thieves leaving her car after attempting to shoot out the camera, and apparently moving onto a neighbor’s car, which they also burglarized. She and her neighbor both have surveillance cameras because the neighborhood has been hit continuously by thieves, and they’re fed up with it.

“We had one neighbor’s car broken into in October, another one broken into with a smashed window in November, and my garage was robbed in May,” Natalie said. “When our garage was burglarized, we shared our video on Facebook then, too, and one person was outed by some of the people who saw it. We turned the video and the information over to the Salem Police Department, and the case is still open.”

As of late Friday afternoon, the latest video of the shots being fired had more than 3,000 shares. Natalie is hopeful that as it approaches 4,000, someone somewhere will recognize the thieves and call her or police.

Lt. Dave Okada with the Salem Police confirmed that an investigation into the theft and shots has been opened and a detective assigned to the case.

He urged anyone with information to call Salem PD immediately, and to make no attempt to confront the suspects.

“And if you know where one of the suspects is right now, call 911,” Okada said.

ccurrie@statesmanjournal.com; (503) 399-6746 or follow on Twitter at @CATMCurrie