On Saturday afternoon, Julie Steward’s neighbor stopped by to ask if she knew her car window had been broken.

She didn’t know. Steward, who uses a wheelchair, hadn’t been out since the freezing rain began a day before.

Her first thoughts, she said, were of the $50,000 worth of specialized driving equipment in her car – equipment that allows her to drive. Steward has a form of muscular dystrophy and has been stuck at home since Friday.

“I live on a Social Security income, so that’s a concern for me,” Steward said.

The equipment was still there, but the window wasn’t – the same as several of Steward’s neighbors.

“I don’t think that people realize how costly it is, and not just in dollars sometimes,” said Kim Murphree, Lawrence police spokeswoman.

For the second time in the past few months, vandals smashed more than a dozen windows around the Lawrence area – most in eastern Lawrence, a part of town that has been hit hard by vandals before.

Eight of the 12 incidents happened in eastern Lawrence on Delaware, Connecticut and Rhode Island streets, where the 43-year-old Steward lives.

The damage in that area totaled more than $7,000 in broken car windows belonging to about a dozen people, police reported.

Other incidents occurred in southern Lawrence, including graffiti sprayed on two Iowa Street businesses, Associated Management and Advance Auto Parts, according to police reports.

Murphree said investigators would look into whether the incidents were related.

Steward said police told her they found a van that may have been involved in the vandalism and that they found baseball bats inside.

But police have not located any suspects.

But if any suspects are found, Steward said she’d show up in court to try to get back the nearly $500 she’ll have to pay out of pocket to fix her window.

“I’ll be there to fight if that’s the case,” she said.