Vandals target Black-owned coffee shop in Shoreline once again

SHORELINE, Wash. — A Black-owned Shoreline coffee shop frequently hit by vandals and racist threats has been targeted once again.

Erwin Weary and his wife got a call from police around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday saying there had been a burglary at their coffee shop, Black Coffee Northwest.

“So we rushed down to see glass everywhere and there’s some vandalism that happened and you know it’s rough because we’ve been here plenty of times before,” said Weary.

Weary says the suspect got away with a good amount of cash. He says just a few months ago their cash registers were stolen, and that time police were able to identify and capture the suspect because they were caught on surveillance footage. He hopes they have the same luck this time.

“This one is the one that I definitely want to access,” said Weary as he pointed at surveillance monitors.

In the two years Black Coffee Northwest has been open, incidents like this have been all too common.

“Whether we’re getting like threatening calls, we’re getting swastikas or you know, first it was a fire bombing that turned out to be very strange as well, but we’ve had these windows boarded up way too many times,” said Weary.

The last incident KIRO 7 reported on happened in August, when the shop had been receiving racist and violent phone calls for three weeks.

Weary says what weighs on him the most is that they have worked so hard to create a safe space with opportunity for the community, and every incident is a setback.

“One thing I would like to say to the individual that’s doing this is that you gotta remember, this is a community space and we’re trying to actually help,” said Weary.

Weary feels like there’s purpose for them to stay open, and says they will continue to serve more than a cup of coffee.

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