PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A group of vandals spray-painted graffiti on the Termini Brothers’ flagship bakery in South Philadelphia early Monday morning. The iconic bakery, which recently announced the death of its patriarch, Vincent Termini Sr., called it another “punch in the gut.”
The business posted surveillance video on social media showing five suspects hanging around the property just after midnight. At least one of them scaled a metal fence to get to the roof of the smaller portion of the building. He used black spray paint to draw a symbol on the bakery’s white exterior, near an exhaust fan.
Members of the group then spray-painted the metal guardrail in the small lot next to the bakery. They also tagged a van unaffiliated with Termini, which happened to be parked close to the bakery on Eighth Street.
“For those who may not realize or understand — we take extreme pride in the cleanliness and image of our property and our neighborhood,” the bakery said in its social media post. “We keep the overhead lights bright to deter crime and vandalism for both our neighbors and our own business property, but nevertheless, the criminals don’t care. It’s almost as if they know there are no ramifications.”
“It’s terrible. How could you live like this? These people are good people,” said Yvette, who lives a few doors down. “I hope it wasn’t against the family because it’s a good family.”
The Termini family is still mourning the loss of Vincent Termini Sr., the bakery’s longtime second-generation owner, who died on Oct. 4.
“We love our neighborhood, and for the past century, we have taken our role very seriously as the foundation of this section of South Philadelphia,” the social media post continued. “To see our private property defaced is a punch to the gut. We’ve experienced this before, but we won’t lie — it hurts every time.”
It was not immediately clear if the suspects specifically targeted the bakery. A crew with CLIP, Philadelphia’s Community Life Improvement Program, came out early Wednesday morning to paint over the graffiti.