By Susan Payne
Three businesses in Long Beach have reported windows smashed in with one common denominator: visible LGBTQ symbols.
Wide Eyes Open Palms, Folklore Salon & Barber and the Long Beach LGBTQ Center have Pride colors painted on the building or fly Pride flags.
Surveillance video captured a man smashing the door window at Wide Eyes Open Palm, according to NBC Los Angeles. Angie Evans, the coffee shop’s co-owner, told NBC she thought the case was isolated until she heard about the vandalism at the LGBTQ Center. A stylist at Folklore Salon & Barber, Andrea Arriola, told NBC she felt the same way.
“It was definitely jarring once we put all the pieces together and realized it was more of a message than just a break-in,” Arriola said.
Long Beach police said they are looking into the cases to see if there is a connection.
Two years ago, no one was ever caught after someone burned down the Pride-painted lifeguard tower a few miles away, NBC reported.
