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South Berkeley residents awoke Wednesday morning to find tires punctured on over 50 of their cars on California, King and Julia streets.

The tires were most likely damaged with a puncture tool such as a fireplace tool, a small pocket knife or an ice pick between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 7 a.m. Wednesday, according to Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, spokesperson for the Berkeley Police Department.

The predominant area where the crimes occurred was between 62nd and Blake streets on California —  the extent of 17 blocks.

“There were cars all along that route which were rendered useless,” Kusmiss said.

Officers found cars with damaged tires on two blocks of Julia Street between California and King streets and on three blocks of King, from Alcatraz Avenue to the Oakland border.

“Thus far we have documented approximately 50 vehicles — ranging from cars to trucks to vans — with one or two tires that had been vandalized, primarily on the sidewalk side,” Kusmiss said. “There doesn’t seem to us to be any specific pattern aside from the particular street — particularly California Street.”

She added that there was no particular pattern in the types of cars with tire damage, though there appeared to have been cars skipped along the various routes.

As of 8:45 p.m. Thursday, the police department had counted 74 vehicles with one or two tires punctured, according to Kusmiss.

“We may not be able to get to the truth without having a community member say they witnessed a crime — it’s a very challenging crime to solve and challenging to catch — it’s akin to graffiti,” Kusmiss said in an interview.

As of Thursday evening, the department has not made any arrests.

“The investigation is continuing and officers are pursuing some potentially viable leads,” Kusmiss said in an email Thursday.

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