European edition, Wednesday, July 18, 2007
STUTTGART, Germany — No arrests have been made in the July 12 vandalism of several vehicles on Patch Barracks in Stuttgart, German police said Tuesday.
At least six damaged vehicles were discovered at 2:20 a.m. by military police during a routine patrol. Four of the vehicles — Mercedes-Benz and Volvo cars, a passenger van and a delivery truck — belonged to the Sixt rental car store.
One personally owned vehicle, a late-model Mini Cooper, had windows smashed on all four sides, and a privately owned Mercedes had a windshield smashed in. Other cars had smashed lights and dents in their bodies.
“In the entire history of me renting cars to Americans — 20 years — I’ve never had that happen,” said Bernhard Schueller, the Sixt manager for Army Garrison Stuttgart. “It’s unreal. I was shocked to see that had happened, especially on post.”
Stefan Kielbach, a spokesman with the Stuttgart police department, said authorities had no specific suspects, though he said it was almost certainly someone with access to the base.
Patch Barracks is home to the headquarters of U.S. European Command, among other tenants.
Lawrence Reilly, a spokesman for the garrison, said that it appeared the damage was done by people kicking the cars or by using pieces of concrete. A window from the Subway sandwich shop was also damaged, Reilly said.
Persons with information on the vandalism are asked to call military police at DSN 430-5261/5262 or civilian 0711-6805261/5262.
