An alleged gang member admitted to buying a hammer and driving to Daly City from San Francisco to break the windshields on cars, police said.

It was the second consecutive day that San Mateo County was struck by auto vandalism.

Early Wednesday morning, the windshields of 10 cars were smashed on the 700 block of Beechwood Drive in Daly City. One day earlier, tires were slashed between 30 and 40 cars just 11 miles away in Burlingame.

This is the second time in the last four months that windshields have been destroyed in Daly City, police said.

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One resident, according to authorities, saw two or three individuals running away after the early Wednesday incident and jotted down the license plate number of the getaway vehicle.

The license plate number led police to a house in San Francisco, where they arrested Kevin Luu, 22, the driver of the getaway car, said Capt. Mike Edwards of the Daly City Police Department.

Edwards said that Luu admitted he smashed the windshields with a hammer and also said he was a member of the Jackson Street Boys, an Asian gang operating in San Francisco.

Luu had been out on bail for a weapons violation.

“After denying for a while, he admitted to purchasing the hammer and driving to that location with friends with the intent to smash the windows,” Edwards said.

Authorities said it is still unclear if there is any gang connection to the incident.

“It appears to be an isolated incident, but we don’t know why he was targeting that particular block or those specific vehicles,” Edwards said.

Although the vandalism in Daly City occurred one day after the Burlingame incident, police said the two were unrelated. Police said the incident may be related to a January case in which 10 car windows were smashed on the same block of Beechwood Drive.

Although nothing was taken from the vehicles, police said, the residents were still upset about the money they had to pay for the damage.

Galdino Basina said he had to pay $150 to fix the windshield on his Ford Taurus.

“I bought the car in 1991 and up to now haven’t had any problems with it,” he said. “We live on my pension and we barely squeeze through on it. They should make that guy pay all these people for the damage.”

The only person to benefit from the vandalism was Louie Chen, owner of TLC Glass, who spent a better part of the day replacing the smashed windows.

Luu was booked in San Mateo County jail on suspicion of 10 counts of malicious mischief and committing a felony while out on bail. Police said they are still looking for his associates.

svasilyuk@sfexaminer.com

Smash, slash bout

Two major auto vandalism incidents occurred 11 miles apart

DALY CITY

Date of incident: Wednesday

Damage: 10 cars’ windshields

Location: Beechwood Drive

Object used in vandalism: Hammer

Burlingame

Date of incident: Tuesday

Damage: 30-40 cars’ tires

Location: Albemarle Way, Balboa Avenue, Ray Drive, Davis Drive

Object used in vandalism: Ice pick

Source: Burlingame, Daly City police departments