Philadelphia stores beg thieves to leave them alone after third night of looting

Lee Brown
New York Post
Thu, 29 Oct 2020 19:24 UTC

© Mark Makela/Getty Images

Police officers gather outside a shuttered beauty store with graffiti in Philadelphia yesterday.

Philadelphia businesses put up signs begging for looters to leave them alone as thieves ran rampant for the third night amid unrest over the police shooting death of a 27-year-old black man.

"We work here and live here," a large sign read on a boarded-up storefront in a devastated area of the City of Brotherly Love, photos show.

"It's been looted already," another store said on its boards, explaining that the Cambridge Beauty Supply store was family-run and had been in the area for 30 years.

© Christine Baik

Baik’s parents Cambridge Beauty Supply store looted

The store owner's daughter, Christine Baik, told the National Review that it was targeted Tuesday night during wild looting sprees, with "glass shattered all over the floor."

The looters terrified them, she said, claiming some in the mob fired guns — and targeted a local pharmacy twice.

While not a repeat of the estimated 1,000 looters police say struck Tuesday night, Wednesday was the third night protesters flooded the streets after the deadly police shooting of Walter Wallace, a 27-year-old mentally ill black man brandishing a knife.

Two men and a woman were arrested for looting a Rite Aid, WPVI said, with police telling the station that they may have been armed. A cellphone store and a Lord & Taylor were also targeted, the station said.

© Samantha Madera

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney

"It is clear many of these folks are in no way honoring the memory of Walter Wallace Jr.," Mayor Jim Kenney said in a briefing Wednesday shared by WPVI, stressing that they were defying Wallace's family's own wishes.

"By looting, people are not only harming many retail businesses that have struggled in the midst of the pandemic, but they are doing a great disservice to the many others who want to exercise their First Amendment rights by protesting."

Comment: Jim Kenny finally manned up and ordered a curfew, but didn't release the shooting footage until the National Guard was in place

The curfew will be in place until 6am Saturday, and only those who are going to work, seeking medical assistance or dropping off a mail-in ballot will be allowed to leave their homes, the city announced on Twitter. A similar curfew was imposed for Wednesday night, after Black Lives Matter protests escalated into riots that left 53 police officers wounded, dozens of businesses looted and ATMs around the city blown up on Monday and Tuesday.

The protests began after two police officers fatally shot a knife-wielding black man named Walter Wallace Jr. on Monday. Video recorded by a bystander shows the officers backpedaling as the 27-year-old Wallace moves toward them and ignores their commands to drop his knife.

Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby asked on Wednesday that city officials quickly release all available evidence on the shooting to "support your officers, back your officers, and let's get a handle on this thing." But Mayor Jim Kenney said on Friday that he and the Wallace family agreed to release the bodycam footage and 911 audio of police being called to the scene on November 4 "in the hope that it will provide enough time to ease tensions and release the recordings in a constructive manner."

The second curfew was ordered just as hundreds of Pennsylvania National Guard troops were setting up their positions in the city after being deployed by Governor Tom Wolf earlier this week. Kenney said the troops will be stationed at government buildings and other infrastructure and may be sent to other key areas, such as business areas, as needed. He said their presence is unrelated to Tuesday's election, and the need for their continued deployment will be reviewed on a day-to-day basis.

Philadelphia's branch of the BLM organization continued to show its tolerance and inclusiveness by burning down a Vietnamese Baptist church

On Tuesday night the BLM mob torched a Vietnam Baptist Church in Philadelphia — because racism.

Baptist Press reported:

The building of Vietnam Baptist Church in Philadelphia was burned Tuesday night (Oct. 27) during the second night of unrest in the city after the police shooting of a Black man Monday (Oct. 26).

Pastor Philip Pham received a call Tuesday night from a church member whose friend had seen the flames and seven fire trucks surrounding the church.

"I have no idea why they attacked our church," Pham said. "They burned it from the roof. They threw flammable chemicals on the roof and [flames] burned through the roof" and down through the rest of the building. He said the facility is a "total loss."

Of primary concern to Pham were three hard drives. Since before purchasing the building in 2005, Vietnam Baptist Church has served as something of a community center each weekday, providing help with immigration paperwork, taxes and even marriage counseling.