5 Alameda County vehicles recovered after being stolen from parking garage, sheriff's office says

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Five Alameda County vehicles, including sheriff's office units, were stolen from a county garage in Oakland early Sunday and later recovered, authorities said.

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office learned early Sunday that the vehicles had been taken. By Sunday night, all five had been found, officials said. Alameda County deputies were seen outside the garage Sunday after the thefts.

Residents expressed alarm at the incident.

"So if police cars are getting stolen, a whole group of them, then how are we supposed to assume everybody elses cars are even potentially safe?" asked Leanne Hilgart of Oakland.

INTERACTIVE: Take a look at the ABC7 Neighborhood Safety Tracker

"It's just crazy right? How does something like that happen?" asked Christopher Berry of Oakland.

A security guard told ABC7 Eyewitness News it appeared the thief or thieves forced their way through a gate, though deputies had not confirmed that. As of midafternoon Sunday, deputies were still searching for an unmarked patrol car.

"And we're doing everything in our power that we can to locate that last 2025 Ford Explorer," said Sgt. Roberto Morales of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

That SUV was found about an hour later. As of Sunday evening, no arrests had been made and no motive had been identified.

"It is a surprise to me. It is highly unusual for people to target official vehicles like that," said UCLA professor Jeff Brantingham.

Brantingham said many vehicle thefts are for joyriding rather than profit-driven schemes.

"What it makes me think of really, is the more recent Kia Boys phenomena. Where you have people who are targeting particular cars because they've discovered a vulnerability and they can gain some, let's say, internet fame from doing something like that. Hard to know if anything's going on like this," said Brantingham.

The sheriff's office said it is not aware of any missing firearms. Sgt. Morales said keys may have been inside the vehicles at the time of the thefts.

"I do believe that the keys may have been in vehicles. I'm not quite positive, though," Sgt. Morales said.

"So, in this particular case, the fact that the vehicles were recovered, suggests that it was, potentially more of a joyriding type scenario," Brantingham said.

Deputies said area license plate readers helped them locate and recover all of the vehicles.