LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Metro Police say they are investigating more than a dozen incidents of reported looting stemming from Wednesday and Thursday night.
"We had reports of 16 different incidents of looting around the evening," said LMPD Interim Police Chief Robert Schroeder. "These include Broadway, Preston, Outer Loop and Poplar Level Road."
Among the businesses identified by police as having been targeted are two different City Gear clothing locations — one at the Outer Loop and another at 12th and Broadway.
There was no answer at either location Thursday when a WHAS11 crew arrived. A security guard outside the 12th and Broadway location said he did not have contact information for store managers.
Yolanda Crim, who works at an eyecare store next to the Outer Loop location, told WHAS11 that she couldn’t make sense of the destruction.
She returned to work Thursday morning to find her neighboring business boarded up.
"My heart goes out to Breonna Taylor’s family. I know all this looting and everything," Crim said. "There is a purpose for it, but there is also a way to go about expressing yourself without destroying other people’s property."
At least one of the attempted break-ins was unsuccessful — the one at the Bob and Company Pawn Shop along Poplar Level Road.
The owners, who declined to be interviewed on camera, did provide WHAS11 with surveillance video showing a handful of individuals behind the business and at least one man kicking in the glass to the front door. The store has replaced the glass by Thursday afternoon.
The reported break-ins stretched from as far south as the Outer Loop to as far north as 12th and Broadway, according to LMPD.
During an afternoon news conference, Schroeder did not detail an alleged motive for the break-ins.
"We don’t know if it is simply related to the protests or simply taking advantage of the situation," Schroeder said.
Crim offered this: "This is just sad. It’s sad. If we could just all get along it would be a lot better world."
Friday morning, Dwight Mitchell, a spokesperson for LMPD, released a list of businesses that reported looting incidents Thursday night.
- Buddy's Home Furnishings in the 5700 block of Preston Hwy.
- Gamestop in the 4200 block of Outer Loop
- Gamestop in the 2000 block of S. Hurstbourne Pkwy.
- Walgreens possibly in the 2300 block of Stoney Brook Dr.
- T-Mobile in the 3600 block of S. Hurstbourne Pkwy.
- Walgreens in the 2300 block of Frankfort Ave.
Mitchell did not say what was taken, if anything, from the above locations or if anyone was arrested in connection with these reports.
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