Over the weekend, several businesses at the Chamorro Village were broken into and burglarized. PNC visited the scene Monday morning, speaking with the burglarized establishments as GPD processed the scene for fingerprints.
At least five businesses on the north side of the Chamorro Village were targeted by opportunistic thieves over the weekend. But this is not the first time these businesses have been targets. In March, at the beginning of the business shutdown order, burglars ransacked a number of tenants at Chamorro Village. However, no arrests were made.
PNC spoke to one business owner who wishes to remain anonymous. The merchant believes that the same people may be responsible.
“They actually went through the back door and I think this happened either Saturday night or Sunday night because we were here Saturday in the afternoon and everything was fine. It was only today that I was called by the office that someone broke into the shop today,” the merchant said.
“Right now I am very disappointed, upset, and angry I guess. The first time, I was like okay, they need it because of the pandemic, maybe they need the money. They need something to eat. But this time to do it again at the same place! I think that’s just too much. It’s not of need, its destruction to the community,” the merchant added.
Business owners shared that there once was a security camera monitoring the area where the businesses were targeted. That camera was removed without explanation to business owners. It was also shared that the criminals knew which businesses were vulnerable and those that didn’t have surveillance cameras.
“What the Chamorro village can do is provide more security for the place. Because this is not the first time that it happened. They know we have people coming around so put more security in the area, especially now. The thing is, we are paying for rent and we don’t receive any assistance because of the place that we’re in. And again, it really hurt our pocket,” one tenant who asked not to be identified said.
LMY Clothing and Souvenirs was also targeted but the criminals were not able to get through. This was the second time this business was targeted.
Elaine Austria said: “It’s very upsetting, especially since they’re taking advantage of the pandemic and the fact that people aren’t really here.”
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