MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Tables flipped, ceiling tiles ripped apart, and a break room destroyed. Not to mention, Hayat Pharmacy still reeks of tear gas 24 hours after an armed man barricaded himself inside.
Wednesday, our crews captured the massive police presence on Milwaukee's north side after an armed robbery suspect made his way into a pharmacy and locked himself in.
That night, police in tactical gear ended up forcing the man out and arresting him.
Now, we're getting a look at the damage left behind.
"This is where the two employees were. They were inside the pharmacy," Dr. Hashim Zaibak said looking at his untouched counter sealed with bulletproof glass.
Surveillance video inside the pharmacy shows an armed man pacing the halls before entering the employee break room. He didn't come out until the police forced him.
"This is like a normal break room with a coffee machine, a refrigerator, but yeah, it's all damaged right now. We think that most of what happened yesterday happened in here," Zaibak explained.
Pictures show the man used a refrigerator and a scale to block one of the doors to the room. There's also a flipped-over coffee table, chairs thrown, and ceiling tiles in pieces. But that's not all.
"This is the canister, this is the tear gas canister," Zaibak showed our crews.
Zaibak said Milwaukee Police used tear gas to get the suspect out, which still lingered in the halls of the building, forcing us to wear masks inside. You could feel the burning sensation from the tear gas.
MPD left a flier for Zaibak which explains how to clean up after the tear gas, but nothing about the rest of the damage.
"Maybe $10,000 worth of damage," Zaibak assumed.
"Do you think that Milwaukee Police should be responsible, or the city should be responsible for paying for this," Jenna Rae asked.
"We called them earlier today. They gave us a phone number to call, but they didn't give us a definite answer of who's liable for this," Zaibak responded.
We also asked MPD. A spokesperson told us Zaibak has to file a claim for the city to decide whether he gets paid back or not.
For now, Hayat Pharmacy will be back up and running Friday.
"It's a blessing that nothing happened," Zaibak said with relief.
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