CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Cook County Sheriff's Office has employees out in areas affected by looting late May and early June, helping business owners deal with the mess left behind.
The inside of what had been a jewelry store at 112th and Michigan Avenue was all, but destroyed. Everything taken. Everything wrecked.
Daniel Hong, son of the owner, said they watched as the looters, in his words, “were having a good time destroying someone else’s living.”
It was late at night at the end of May.
“People came in waves,” he said, “and took everything in the store and when they found out there was nothing left to take they started destroying the whole store.”
This happened all over. In some cases, seeming to be organized.
“Everything is gone,” he said.
And insurance premiums in that neighborhood are too expensive.
The roll-down security gate was no match for the determined looters.
Tisa Morris, the Sheriff’s Director of Community Engagement, said, “the communities were serious impacted by the looting and the damage and it affected people’s ability to support their families.
"We have been actually going out into different communities, looking for businesses that have been adversely impacted by this,” she said. “There are a number of things we can do. We can do small carpentry. We can do clean-up.”
Business owners with looting damage can email the sheriff’s office for assistance, at ccso.sheriffrebuild@cookcountyil.gov.