A group of teenagers was caught on video ransacking a restaurant in Philadelphia’s Germantown neighborhood.
“So they came in the place, and they started to kick over the chairs and kick over the tables,” an employee of the Jamaican eatery, Zion Cuisine, told CBS News.
On the video, which is making rounds on social media, a teenager can be seen throwing a chair towards the front counter, hitting the plexiglass barrier.
The teenager, in turn, appears to get hit by a bicycle tossed by another one from the mob.
The video also captured an employee retreating from the wild crowd, and falling down. He gets back up, and along with the other restaurant staff, takes cover behind a door.
The chaos terrified the employees, who tried to plead with the teenagers to leave.
“Praying, saying I hope they don’t hurt us. You know, I was praying to God. I was just like, what’s going on? We were surprised. We didn’t do nobody nothing and we are just here in the neighborhood to serve neighborhood food,” an employee said.
The owner of the restaurant refused to be named, but told NBC Philadelphia that she has had issues with kids over the last five years. She said that the trashing that occurred on August 6 was the worst.
“They destroyed the glass, they broke my chairs, they messed up my refrigerator. It might be little stuff, but it costs a lot,” she said.
Around 15-20 young people are believed to be involved.
The Philadelphia Police Department is investigating, and detectives are hoping the public might be able to identify any of the teens involved in the rampage.
The incident occurred barely a month into the city imposing new rules for summer curfew for minors. With the modifications, 16 to 17-year-olds are not allowed to be out on the streets after 10:00 pm.
No one was injured, but the restaurant’s owner is afraid of going back to work in the neighborhood she deems has become more dangerous.
“We have done nothing to nobody except open a restaurant trying to make a living, as well as trying to provide a service. Nobody’s expecting that they’re going into business to get their place trashed,” she said.
