A North Bay coffee shop says it’s fed up and making changes after being burglarized twice in six weeks.
The scene at Grind Cafe in Vallejo Monday morning was an all too familiar one.
The shop had to do the same kind of clean up just six weeks ago after another burglary and as a result, the business stopped taking cash just to reduce the risk of being hit again.
“I opened up the door and yelled ‘if somebody in here you better get out!’” said Marco McCleaod.
He and his wife Tiffany McCleaod are co-owners and said their coffee shop is one of many small businesses in the area dealing with break-ins and in some cases, much more.
Just down the street, a robbery outside Scotty’s Café resulted in a customer being shot and killed while trying to protect a waitress.
“Then it hit my mind that somebody just got killed, so I don’t know what to expect,” said Marco.
“I was scared, I was overwhelmed, we’ve been on high alert since the Scotty’s situation,” said Tiffany.
And the couple strongly believes it’s due to lack of police presence.
Vallejo PD was not available for comment but a city official says measures are being taken to make the city safer, including increased patrols, improved lighting, and cleanup around downtown.
In the meantime, Marco and Tiffany will continue to bring awareness to the issue, but fear it’s only a matter of time before they’re picking up broken glass again.
“It’s getting outrageous,” said Marco. “Somebody is going to get hurt, a business owner is going to get hurt, it has to stop, that’s where we’re at right now.”
Source: NBC Bay Area
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