I lived with a friend for a few months this fall, he offered to let me stay rent free while I was unemployed. I found a job in Ohio and moved out some basics, we agreed that I would move the rest of my stuff out mid-late December when I could afford a moving truck.

After a couple of weeks he moved a few things to my storage unit, almost everything he moved was broken, so I told him he wasn't allowed in the unit.

Sometime between then and when I got the truck last weekend he got super mad at me and put a lot more stuff in the unit. He put a lot of open food in, and mice got in. During the packing part I threw away probably $300 dollars worth of food that the mice had gotten in. This wasn't cheap everyday food, I have a hobby of asian cooking and a lot of it was spices I had either had to get from a specialty store or special order.

(Not completely relevant, but I hadn't actually done what he was mad about)

While I was unpacking, I found a handful of pistachios in the bottom of every box he had packed. There weren't any in the boxes I packed. I legitimately think at this point that he intentionally baited the mice into the unit.

I've thrown away another several hundred dollars worth of my belongings during the unpacking, including some of my nicer furniture.

My plan atm is to file a police report and try to recover damages from either my insurance on the unit or his renter's insurance. I have pictures of the damages and of some of the boxes with pistachios.

What all should I do next? I'm going to file the police report when I'm back in town this weekend. Will I need to file a lawsuit? What information should I give to the police?