A Philadelphia business owner is remembering one of Christ’s most important teachings after his small business was ransacked by a mob of ruffians last week.
Zion’s Cuisine in Germantown became the target of a mob of 100 teenagers on Aug. 6.
One rioter of the mob threw a chair over the restaurant’s counter and another threw a bicycle in the store, video of the attack (shown below) showed.
The owner’s family had to escape to the back of the store for their own safety, according to Philadelphia radio station KYW.
An employee of a nearby Autozone described a flash mob of over 100 teens streaming into the parking lot of the Germantown business. (Other reports placed the number of rioters from 20 to “dozens”; the exact number involved in unknown.)
“There was hundreds of kids filling up the place,” said a man KYW identified only as Chris, one of the owners of the establishment. “Kicking over the tables and chairs and jumping over the counter.”
Another owner, who asked WCAU not to identify her, said the raid was costly.
“They destroyed the glass, they broke my chairs, they messed up my refrigerator. It might be little stuff, but it costs a lot,” she told the station.
Did the store owners respond appropriately?
The entrepreneur’s children, 4 and 10, are now fearful to return to the business.
However, Chris said they had already forgiven the mob of riotous youths.
“I’m a Christian and the Bible says forgive them. So I forgave them,” he said.
A store employee also said that the violent attack led them to pray for divine intervention.
“Saying I hope they don’t hurt us. I was praying to God. I was just like, what’s going on? We were surprised,” the employee told KYW-TV.
“We didn’t do nobody nothing and we are just here in the neighborhood to serve neighborhood food.”
WARNING: The following video contains violence and graphic language that some viewers will find offensive.
Philadelphia Police said they were aware of the flash mob attack and seeking tips from the public to identify individual rioters.
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