Local restaurant owners are becoming fed up with the crime that has engulfed the city with some considering closing their businesses.
The owners of Yeller Sub on Montgomery were recent victims of crimes. Restaurant employees allege three homeless people attacked them physically after they were asked to leave the property on a Friday afternoon.
Owners Mark and Rosie Roerick told KRQE that two men and a woman were sitting outside at one of their tables for a few hours. When Mark asked them to leave, they said one of the men refused and told Roerick he “wouldn’t leave without his money.” When Roerick again asked the three to move along, the owner was threatened, and the argument escalated. Employees rushed to help the owner and, according to KRQE, a security video captured one of the homeless men hitting an employee.
“Well, once the boys came out, the girl took one of the chairs and actually flung it at one of my employees,” Rosie Roerick told KRQE. “After that, kind of everything just kind of erupted. One of our guys was hit in the face. One of our guys was pepper sprayed really badly. His eye is still swollen.”
The three people left the scene before officers arrived, but a police report was filed. The Roericks told KRQE the violence and crime along Montgomery have gotten worse in recent months. Two weeks ago, police raided the apartment complex right across the street for suspected retail crime theft.
