TAMPA, Fla. — In a press conference Sunday morning, Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said 40 buildings were burglarized and looted in last night’s protests, with five set ablaze.
Owner Dan Padawi says in the 15 years he’s had Marathon Gas Station on E. Fowler in Tampa, he’s never seen anything like this before.
"The most important thing for me is my guys are okay," he said. Padawi said people took beer, cigarettes, cigars—whatever they could take.
"For no reason, I don’t know why they did that," he said.
As Padawi and his employees began to clean up Sunday morning, people came out to help clean up, sharing in his confusion and frustration.
"And then they’re gonna do this instead of protesting. I’m sorry I got sensitive. This is sad what they did to our community to our store, this is not how you protest," one neighbor said.
In a press conference, Dugan addressed business owners who lost everything in the riots.
"I’d say I’m sorry. As chief of police to see this happen under my watch is difficult to deal with," he said.
And nearby at Shoe Mountain, neighbors also came to help and show support, saying they were at a loss why this store was targeted.
"He supports the black community, why loot his store?" Tom G., a friend of the store owners said.
Owners Chad Douglas and Kareef Johnston say between damage and lost shoes, they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the riots Saturday night.
"It’s just unfortunate because we stand for justice, we understand that everyone has the right to protest, we want to protest with them, but this is a community and to see our community come and tear down our community is hurtful. We want to protest with them, but this is a community and to see our community come and tear down our community is hurtful," Douglas said.
"A lot of people know who we are, as a store, as a black owned business, and we try to take care of our community, because one thing we know, from growing up, we can’t rise unless we rise together," Kareef Johnston said.
The owner of Marathon Gas Station says he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to re-open and says he lost $40,000 in cash and merchandise alone.
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