Westcott neighborhood sees uptick in crime

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Thieves are breaking into homes, cars and businesses across Onondaga County. The Westcott neighborhood becoming one of the most recent targets.

It’s every business owner’s worst nightmare.

“I just feel violated. It’s just like getting to be enough,” said Danielle Mercuri, owner of Rise N Shine Diner.

Rise N Shine Diner in Syracuse’s Westcott neighborhood got an alarming wake-up call they never wanted to get.

“One of my employees called. She does the cleaning and stuff. She’s usually here at 1 a.m. but she didn’t come over here until about 4:30, 5:00 and noticed a window was smashed out,” said Mercuri.

The restaurant’s front window is now boarded up. Thankfully, nothing was stolen. But the thieves left behind broken glass and a big mess for Mercuri.

“I feel like we are doing as much as we can. I just think there needs to be more of a community effort that we have more of a presence so that they don’t come here,” said Mercuri.

Rise N Shine isn’t the only business that’s been targeted in the neighborhood. Wescott Grocery has also been broken into and vandalized.

“It was literally happening as soon as we shut the store down. By the time I got to my house in 10 minutes. I’m getting a phone call saying you have to come back, somebody broke the window,” said Rami Amer, co-owner of Syracuse Halal Gyro inside Westcott Grocery.

Amer says all of this happened over the summer, and not just once.

“Every time we board up the window. They break the glass right next to it. Board up the window, break the glass next to it. We got tired of it. So we just boarded up all the windows,” said Amer.

Amer says the store was vandalized four times in just one week. The thieves also stole rolling papers.

It’s a troubling trend Syracuse Police are starting to see more of in the Westcott neighborhood.

“Over the past weekend from Friday to Monday there was up to four commercial burglaries over there that we responded to over that weekend,” said Sgt. Thomas Blake, Syracuse Police Department.

New Garden Restaurant was also broken into the same night as Rise N Shine. The owners did not want to go on camera but told NewsChannel 9 their front door was smashed into and their cash register was stolen.

“Almost everybody on the street has had some kind of vandalism or robbery,” said Mercuri.

According to Syracuse Police, there’s been a 30 percent increase in crime in the last year in the Westcott neighborhood. The investigations are ongoing.

Police are asking anyone with information to give them a call.

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