MEMPHIS, Tenn. — More than two dozen vehicles were broken into in Cordova and East Memphis over the weekend.
One of the spots hit was an employee parking lot of Baptist Memorial Hospital off Walnut Grove.
There were eighteen smashed windows of vehicles in the employee parking lot. An employee we talked to who asked not to be identified described the scene late Saturday night.
“I mean the whole parking lot is covered in glass. People are using umbrellas and stuff to brush glass out of their cars,” she said.
Her car was one of the ones targeted. Her windows were smashed, but nothing was taken.
“I assume they were looking for guns,” she said.
Now, she is dealing with the headache of getting her car fixed, but she’s also lost peace of mind knowing her car is safe when she reports to work for hours.
“Especially as a healthcare provider, you know, we put so much into caring for these patients, you know? Ever since COVID, the healthcare system has been overwhelmed with sick patients, COVID patients,” the employee said.
Memphis Police told us two other vehicles were also broken into outside of a business off Trinity Road over the weekend. Four other people reported their cars were targeted in a parking lot off Germantown Parkway.
In the majority of cases, the victims reported nothing to be taken.
The hospital employee said she normally sees security at Baptist and the employee parking area in a visible spot.
“It’s not like the employee parking lot is out in the cut. It’s sitting right in front of visibly the entrance to the emergency department,” she said. “I want awareness, you know? Better security, take care of us.”
In a statement, Baptist told us in part:
“Our security team immediately shared their findings with the Memphis Police Department and is working with MPD to assist with the investigation in any way possible. Our campus security will be increasing security measures to protect our parking lots and deter future incidents. Patient and employee safety are top priorities for us.”
It’s unclear if the same suspects are believed to be involved in all of the break-ins, but police reports indicate they were caught on camera at some of the locations.
If you know anything about these incidents, call CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH.