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Up to $700,000 of merchandise stolen from Trend Benderz in overnight Milwaukee looting

Posted at 12:14 AM, May 31, 2020
and last updated 2020-05-31 01:14:55-04

Milwaukee Police confirm 16 businesses in Milwaukee were damaged or looted late Friday night into early Saturday morning.

Trend Benderz, at 35th and Capitol, was one of the worst hit. It sells high-end sneakers, shoes, clothes and accessories.

Surveillance cameras inside the store recorded the crime. The surveillance video shows young people smashing through a glass door with an axe, then jumping through the door, and grabbing as much merchandise as possible.

The owner of Trend Benderz, Sam Ramahi, got a call in the middle of the night from a friend who passed by the store.

"Immediately, I checked the cameras from home because I have access to them, and I saw a swarm of people destroying my business," Ramahi said. "It was heartbreaking. I felt totally helpless. I was just praying to God that something would happen that they would stop the madness."

It's something Ramahi isn't sure he can fully recover from.

"Close to $700,000 worth of merchandise was wiped out in less than 15 minutes," he said.

Ramahi is left cleaning up the mess left behind.

"I know people have the right to be frustrated and angry," he said. "They have the right to protest. But they don't have the right to come into small businesses and destroy them and steal from them, as a way to show how angry they are. I know this is all material stuff, but it was my livelihood."

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