Posted on December 16, 2011

Gas Station Looted Amid Owner’s Family Crisis

My Fox Philly, December 15, 2011

The owner of a North Philadelphia gas station who traveled out of the country for his mother’s funeral will come back to find his business destroyed.

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Left behind is the aftermath of an all-out free-for-all.

On Wednesday, someone broke into a mini-mart on Cumberland Street and Germantown Avenue when word got around that the owner left town.

It didn’t take long before the looting started. Soon, the whole store was in shambles.

The inside of the store is ruined. The only products left are a bottle of vinegar and some oatmeal.

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But every shelf had been picked clean. The floors were mess. Everything in the refrigerators was gone. And kids told O’Connell they broke into the ATM and got $600 dollars from it.

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Finally, a friend of the owner showed up. He told us the owner left on a last-minute trip to India–after his mother died.

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“They should be ashamed of their selves, just doing that. It’s ridiculous. This is the neighborhood. This is what they do,” one witness said.