Vandals cause $100,000 worth of damage to West Philadelphia apartment building

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Police are working to identify a group of masked suspects caught on video vandalizing an apartment building in West Philadelphia.

It happened outside the Olympic Tower Apartments on the 4900 block of Spruce Street on May 1.

Surveillance video shows 10 suspects smashing windows on the first floor with hammers and throwing a glass bottle filled with purple paint on the sidewalk.

Police say the damage is estimated at $100,000.

We spoke with one of the owners of the apartment complex who described the frightening moments the people inside experienced.

He says employees were scared and hiding in a back room, thinking it was a shooting.

In all, 27 windows were smashed, the owner said, with glass shattered onto residents' beds.

Police say this is an act of cowardly vandalism.

"You're covering your face up and you're going to go out and smash somebody else's private property, not knowing what could possibly be on the other side of that glass," said Capt. Robert McKeever, commanding officer for the Southwest Detective Division.

Police are asking people in the area to check their surveillance video. They say it's possible once the vandals got further down the block they may have taken their masks off or fled in a getaway car.

We spoke with Andre Williams who lives in the neighborhood. He says he's looking into moving into the building.

"There's still tension about this area being newly gentrified but, you know, people have to still respect each other's property," Williams said.

Police are looking into an anarchist group that has claimed responsibility for the vandalism online, but they have yet to identify any suspects.

No one was injured.