PORTLAND, Ore — UPDATE: Saturday, Fuse owner Azim Patel posted on Instagram that one person had been arrested in the vandalism case.
"We would like to thank you for the shares and show of support. Your tips led to his arrest. Proof that a social community is a force to be reckoned with. Still searching for the female."
According to he Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, 45-year-old David Jesse Mattson was arrested and charged with misdemeanor count of criminal mischief Saturday morning and was released on his own recognizance.
ORIGINAL STORY: Times are difficult for small business owners during the pandemic - and this won't make it any easier for a bar in downtown Portland's Ankeny Alley.
Two people brazenly damaged Fuse Bar early in the morning on Thursday. What's extra troubling is they recorded the whole thing, then casually walked off.
"[We've] never had a break-in. This was the first time someone has ever done something like that," Fuse owner Azim Patel said.
The timing couldn't be worse as small businesses across the city stay shuttered to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
"It's draining, you know. We're barely making it right now,” Patel said. "It's just one thing after the other. It just adds to the stress levels.”
Around 1 a.m. Thursday, an app on Patel's phone notified him someone was messing with one of the doors on his building.
He jumped in his car, drove over and when he got out of the car he noticed the wooden board that had been tacked over one of the doors was removed. Then he saw it: a big hole in the door and glass shattered all over.
Patel cleaned up what he could then went home to check out his security camera video.
Fuse has four security cameras on the exterior of its building that caught the young woman and man entering through the side gate in Ankeny Alley, removing the wooden board over one of the doors, and smashing the glass with a baton-like object.
All the while, they were recording the whole thing with their phones. Then, surveillance video shows them casually laughing and walking away.
It happened a while after peaceful demonstrations ended, right around the time the Portland Police Bureau reported a small group of vandals were causing chaos.
Patel doesn't believe the vandals looked like protesters.
"How dumb do you have to be?" Patel said. "I'm guessing they realized police are tied up, it's 1 a.m., there's a bunch of peaceful protests going on. They had to do their own thing and hijack a good cause."
He filed a police report and Portland police confirmed they received it but haven't identified any suspects as of yet.
"We understand the impact these incidents of vandalism have on our local business community partners," a PPB public information officer said in an e-mail to KGW.
"Not only do we have to worry about the business aspect but we have to worry about people doing stuff like that - which is unnecessary,” Patel said. "You just second guess humanity, you know?"
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