NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A local shop owner is asking the community for help after they say their corner store was burglarized early Tuesday morning.
Kenia Lowery, owner of the Black Corner Store, shared surveillance video with FOX61, showing a group taking an ATM from inside the store.
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She said the incident happened around 4 a.m. and then an hour later, surveillance video shows another person taking items from around the store.
“They just came and damaged everything. They took everything out of my register, they took Monsters, Red Bull’s,” Lowery said. “They took all my soaps, my body washes, my toothbrushes, toothpastes.”
FOX61 first spoke with Lowery and shop co-owner Michael Massey just a couple weeks ago about how the couple serves free meals to kids out of their corner store and gives away free clothes to those in need.
Now, Lowery is asking for help.
“I am really asking that someone let us know who did this because it’s not fair to the rest of the community on what they’ve done," she said. "Every Monday, I feed these kids around this neighborhood. It’s probably your kids that I’m feeding. I want to continue to do that, but if I’m not safe in this environment, I won’t."
Massey told FOX61 there should be consequences for the people involved, but he doesn’t want them to end up in the system. He hopes something will set them on a better path.
“They were young, they were influenceable,” he said. “We got to do better as elders to get people to change.”
He thinks another motivation was involved, and said more needs to be done to change the root of the problem.
“Money is always the root,” Massey said. “There’s not enough money in this city. There’s not enough jobs. We’ve got to prioritize jobs. I feel like we need to do better.”
New Haven PD confirms they are investigating burglaries at the corner store.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact New Haven Police.
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Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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