Acid vandal strikes under PPD’s nose

An acid vandal decided to wreak havoc along South Philadelphia streets sometime overnight yesterday, damaging the parked vehicles and causing major headaches for residents on their way to work.

The worst part, according to some victims, is the fact that there was a police van stationed on Jackson Street after a robbery and murder last Wednesday. Lisa Stagliano, 37, of Wolf Street said she has heard the officer on duty overnight wasn’t in the van when the vandal struck. A police spokesman, however, said the van is staffed 24 hours a day.

“It’s possible the officer just didn’t see what was happening,” Lt. Ray Evers said. “It looks like a vehicle drove down the street with the windows down and sprayed the cars using a spray bottle.”

The earliest vandalism was found around 5 yesterday morning, which suggested the damage was done overnight.

Keith Gilbert, from the 200 block of Wolf Street, stood out on the sidewalk in front of his home, looking at the damage to the neighborhood cars yesterday afternoon. “It looks like they used paint stripper to me,” Gilbert said.

Any connection to the murder last week seems unlikely, according to Evers.