Vandal's 'rampage' through Damascus garden center causes thousands in damage
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- A family-owned garden center in Damascus is working to pick up the pieces after a vandal broke in overnight, leaving multiple pots smashed, shelves knocked over and thousands of dollars in damage.
Tony Karam, owner of Tony's Garden Center, said he received a call from his staff Friday morning alerting him of the broken pots, fertilizers thrown to the ground and more.
"I showed up a little bit later to see them," Karam told KOIN 6 News. "We all thought it was maybe a deer at first or an animal got in there. But after seeing how bad and how how much damage there was, we definitely knew it wasn't an animal."
Karam said the business remained opened that day, but that whole area had to be closed off for several hours while employees worked to clean it up.
It wasn't until the evening when he finally got to look at what the security cameras captured around 2 a.m. that morning.
"We did get a picture of them entering one of our greenhouses and coming out with some plants that they, I guess, took out to their car, because then it came back and went to another one and took more stuff," Karam recalled. "Then after that is when they kind of went on the little rampage of destroying and jumping up and down on pots and making a mess out of things."
Karam says he's currently working with police to "try to get a clearer picture" of the suspect.
"As of right now, it'd just be great to figure out who it was and figure out what caused them to cause so much damage," he said. "I understand coming in and stealing a plant or so. It happens often. But to cause that much damage was very devastating to see."
Although the staff is still assessing and going through inventory, Karam estimates there's up to $10,000 in damage.
But overall, Karam says he's grateful for the outpouring of care and concern he's seen from the community.
"I think what was more important to me was how much the community reached out and how much effort people have made to make sure we are good, and make sure our business is better than they've been around," Karam said. "So I just am more appreciative of people than what actually happened."