A father is left devastated after his restaurant was ransacked and vandalized, leaving behind tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
For the restaurant’s owner, Beto Mendez, the timing was doubly devastating as the mother of his children had passed away just two weeks ago.
On the morning of Feb. 26, a suspect broke into El Zarape located on Melrose Avenue in East Hollywood.
Surveillance video captured a suspect in a white hooded jacket walking into the restaurant, spray painting over the security cameras and flipping it off at one point.
Mendez had poured his heart and soul into his beloved restaurant for seven years. It was almost too much for him to process when he walked in to see the destruction left behind.
“I came in and I saw this,” said Mendez, on the verge of tears. “All these years of hard work. It really hurts.”
The walls of his restaurant were left covered with graffiti, the televisions were smashed, objects were scattered on the ground and all the tables and chairs were knocked over.
“They took the safe and my personal computer, my laptop,” Mendez said.
In total, the major destruction and stolen items left over $80,000 worth of damage. Mendez said his insurance policy will likely only cover only a fraction of the repair and theft costs.
Still in shock, he hasn’t told his two teenage daughters about the incident as they have been dealing with life-changing news recently —their mother had passed away from a medical condition just two weeks ago.
“I haven’t really come here to the restaurant because I was with [my daughters],” Mendez said. “They’re devastated and now I see this.”
Mendez said he doesn’t know whether the burglary was a random attack or one fueled by a personal vendetta.
“I’m scared to say something because I’m always in the area,” he said. “I’m afraid they can come back after me for exposing this stuff.”
The male suspect fled the scene before police could arrive. Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating the incident.
The restaurant has been a neighborhood favorite since its debut. Mendez said he has no idea when he’ll be able to reopen after the destructive break-in.
A GoFundMe page to help Medez with recovery costs can be found here.
No suspect description was released. Anyone with information can call the LAPD at 1-877-275-5273.