A coffee shop in Portland was vandalized in an alleged act of retaliation against a ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event the store was planning on hosting.
Six masked individuals targeted the Bison Coffee House around 3 a.m. on Wednesday, according to The Oregonian. The vandals allegedly smashed the coffee shop’s windows using hammers and crowbars and discharged a fire extinguisher, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage, the outlet reported.
Video posted to social media shows the white residue throughout the store, on the Native American art and an authentic stuffed bison head on display. (RELATED: NYC Synagogue Vandalism Suspect Is Former City Hall Anti-Hate Crime Intern)
Last night, Bison Coffeehouse, a local BIPOC woman-owned small business, was attacked and vandalized by a group of masked criminals. They shattered windows and covered the interior of the shop with white paint. pic.twitter.com/JaN4heNuaU
— Mayor Ted Wheeler (@tedwheeler) October 5, 2022
Loretta Guzman, the coffee shop’s owner and a woman of Native American descent, claimed this attack occurred only hours after promoting an upcoming on the business’ social media for the upcoming event, ‘Coffee with a Cop’. Guzman explained that local police asked her to host it, the Oregonian reported. (RELATED: REPORTED: Cops Quitting At ‘Unprecedented’ Numbers In Portland)
But the advertisement didn’t receive much positive feedback, with users leaving comments such as “Absolutely NOT”, “This ain’t it” or “Hard pass”.
One user emphasized, “I’m begging folks not to participate in this. They will absolutely use it to gather information to use against community. They speak very plainly about this in their trainings and internal communications.”
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Guzman’s intended, however, to foster an open dialogue between the police and the community in the hopes of encouraging positive change.
“I was just hoping people from the community could bring their concerns, their questions — because there’s a lot of questions right now that people have for the police,” Guzman stated. “You don’t have the answers, but maybe you can try to figure things out, to make things better,” she said.
“[The Portland Police Bureau] has no plans to change our efforts to work closely with community members on the public safety concerns they have,” said Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Sergeant Kevin Allen. (RELATED: Portland Police Department Reportedly Spent $12.4 Million After Year Of Unrest And Riots)
The responding officers assisted Guzman with clean up, and the ‘Coffee with a Cop’ event went on as planned, reported The Oregonian. Guzman created a GoFundMe page for the shop’s repairs, which has so far raised $22,000 of its $100,000 goal.
Portland police are encouraging anyone with information to email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov with reference to case number 22-267489.