A South Florida barbershop was targeted over the weekend and the suspect, who got away with thousands of dollars in equipment and damaged the business, was seen on surveillance camera.
It’s the latest caught-on-camera crime in southwest Miami-Dade County.
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Carlos Perez and Pablo Salgado are the owners of Pablo's barbershop, in a community they've poured into for years.
“This is like my second home, almost my first because I'm here more,” Perez said.
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But it was hours after they left Saturday that they said someone broke into their shop.
“It's heartbreaking,” Salgado said. “Something you put your blood, sweat and tears into.”
The owners say someone is seen on surveillance video throwing a rock through the door, breaking the glass and walking inside. A minute later, the suspect walked out of the barbershop with a trash bag. Perez says many of their barber tools and other equipment were inside that bag.
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“It's like an artist and their brush, a tattoo artist and his tattoo gun, it's personal to us, it's very valuable to us,” Perez said. “It was emotional to know that someone could go at whatever time of the night and you're not here to protect it.”
A couple miles from the shopping plaza is Franjo Park. In the last couple of weeks, many parents, grandparents and baseball coaches have expressed safety concerns in the area.
Late last month, children and parents at a little league baseball game ran in fear after a hail of gunfire near the park. Two people were found shot in the area.
“It was scary for everyone that was here,” said Alexis Hendrikse, a board member with the Perrine Baseball and Softball Association Inc.
She says after the shooting, the board raised money and partnered with the city of Cutler Bay and a Miami-Dade commissioner to pay for an officer to patrol the park every time they have a game until next month.
She says they will work with the city and county commissioner to come up with a plan for after December.
“Having that police presence here is our way of showing our parents we hear you, we care and we want you to feel safe being here,” Hendrikse said. “We want everyone to come back home. We want everyone to feel comfortable here. We don't want people to be scared.”
Back at the barbershop, all they want is this person caught.
“There's people who are trying to make an honest living, they pour their life into their business, trying to feed their family and when things like this happen it can really set them back,” Perez said.
Miami-Dade Police are investigating the business burglary.
There is a GoFundMe for the barbershop.
CORRECTION (Nov. 8, 2024 at 8:07 a.m. EST): This story has been updated to reflect that the crime happened in southwest Miami-Dade County, not Cutler Bay.
