Milwaukee car thieves target Brewery District

Car thieves are targeting certain types of cars in downtown Milwaukee and doing it in broad daylight. 

A woman in the Brewery District caught the whole thing on video. The car was stolen in less than two minutes – at 11 a.m.

Police say Kias and Hyundais are being targeted the most, and the car that was stolen was a silver Hyundai. 

"I have these stickers on here for like a GPS tracking system," Clare Masterson said. She’s not taking any chances.

"This is the wheel lock, this is the club," she said. "So my vehicle has been broken into and attempted to be stolen twice." 

Clare Masterson shows how to install a club on her Hyundai

But this past Sunday she caught the latest attempt on camera. It happened right outside her front window.

"We saw a group of five kids or so, spread out with two stolen vehicles and they were attempting to steal a third," she said.

Masterson says she called police and before she knew it her neighbor’s car was gone 

Video of thieves stealing a vehicle.

so like I said it was probably two minutes by the time they got in the car, got in started and were on their way," she said.

The woman whose car got stolen did not want to go on camera. Masterson says she feels for her and wants to get the word out. 

"There’s only so much we can do but if people can take recordings, get pictures of their faces stuff like that it could help," said Masterson. "You just twist the key and you can take it off," 

With her wheel lock and GPS tracker in place, she is hoping these precautions will keep her from being victimized again.

The club

"It’s so frustrating having to go through the trauma of feeling vulnerable and your property being damaged for really no good reason at all," she said.

So far this year, Milwaukee police have reported more than 3,300 stolen cars and counting.

Police say that one of the best ways you can protect yourself is by having a steering wheel lock.