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Vandalized Oakland Liquor Store Damaged By Fire
OAKLAND -- A 'suspicious' early Monday morning fire heavily damaged an Oakland corner liquor store that was targeted last week by a group of well-dressed vandals who destroyed the beverage coolers with iron bars, terrorized the clerk and sent shelves of liquor bottles crashing to the floor. An Oakland Fire Department dispatcher said the fire at the New York Market at 3446 Market Street was reported at 1:19 a.m."It was contained fairly quickly, the crews put a quick hit on it but there was a lot of fire," said Battalion Chief Lorenzo Frediani. "It appears to be arson. It's under investigation." Arson investigators with the Oakland Police department and Oakland Fire Department were investigating the blaze, which destroyed all of the store's merchandise, Frediani said. On Saturday, Leaders of the Nation Of Islam denied any role in last week's violent late night attacks on the New York Market on 34th and Market and the San Pablo Liquor Market on 23rd and San Pablo Ave. and condemned Oakland police for 'religious profiling' for inferring that they did. At a Saturday press conference, Minister Tony Muhammad -- the Nation of Islam's West Coast leader -- said after reviewing videotapes of the attacks that were played on local media outlets, his group had determined that their members were not responsible. "In the recent incident of two liquor stores here in the Oakland being vandalized, I'm here to make the official statement ⊠after careful review of the recent news footage of the individuals involved in the actions against the liquor stores and merchants in Oakland -- we have concluded these individuals are not -- nor ever have been -- members of the Nation of IslamâŠor of any affiliated mosque or study groups in this area." "These individuals we do not know."
"We would like to send out to the Oakland Police Department of whom we know that one of their spokesman sort of -- we feel -- painted a brush of racial as well as religious profiling against the Nation of Islam." "In this climate of anti-Moslem sentiment, we are saying that all citizens and those in law enforcement should be careful how you paint the brush over any religious group. Just because men dressed in suit and ties (in the attacks)âŠIt doesn't mean that all black men in suit and ties are gang members, thugs or nor do we vandalize store merchants."
On Wednesday night, a gang of vandals strolled into two Oakland corner liquor stores and unleashed a violent attack, terrorizing the clerks, smashing displays and coolers with iron pipes. The brazen attacks were captured on videotape and thieves seemed not to care that their pictures were being recorded as they looked right into the cameras.
Posted by: Steve 2005-11-28 |
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