CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The holiday season will soon be upon us and so will holiday crime.
Police are already dealing with a number of auto burglaries throughout the city.
A couple of weeks ago, someone tried to break into Teresa Hernandez's car.
"I had some things back here, and I guess they saw them,” she said. “I guess he was going to take them."
Hernandez lives near the intersection of Williams and Daly Drive.
It turns out, just last week. police were called to that neighborhood after burglars broke into several other cars there.
"It's terrible,” Hernandez said. “You don't know what to do. There's nothing really you can do."
Two days earlier, a Flour Bluff homeowner found someone breaking into his vehicle.
In both cases, the homeowners confronted the burglars.
The situations quickly turned dangerous very quickly with the suspects involved firing a weapon.
“You never know. They may have a weapon. You don't know what type of condition they're in, whether they're under the influence," said Melissa Castro of the Auto Theft Task Force.
Castro warns there's an increase in these types of crimes around the holidays.
"We're busier, we're trying to get things done. You've got deadlines,” Castro said. “Christmas is coming, shopping and so forth."
But if you do become a victim police say never take the law into your own hands.
"You want to make sure nothing in that car is more valuable than your life,” Castro said.
And as for Hernandez, she just hopes her vehicle isn’t targeted again.
"Maybe if I had a big dog, a real vicious one, nobody would get close,” she said.
Police add, you can reduce your risk of a car break-in by removing all valuables.
Also, they suggest locking your car and never leave a second set of keys inside.
