St. Paul A Minnesota business owner who watched helplessly as his St. Paul store was destroyed during the 2020 George Floyd riots spoke to Fox News Digital about the state’s failure under Gov. Tim Walz to protect business owners like him.
““When the rioters first got here, they destroyed the mall on the left side of here. I was in my store,” Longhur, owner of New Fashion Tailoring and Alteration in St. Paul, Minnesota, told Fox News Digital. “I witnessed the whole thing and recorded it on video. My friends and I were in the store until nightfall. I was going to sleep and keep watch over the store, but my friends said, ‘It’s too dangerous, let’s go home,’ so we decided to go home for the night.”
Ha, a Hmong immigrant, recalled that when she returned home that night, she felt her life was “in jeopardy” but hoped the destruction would stay on the other side of the street.
When Mr Herr returned the next morning to check on the store he’d run for decades, he found his worst fears realized: it had been ransacked.
The Minnesota riots continued even after Walz took “responsibility” to stop chaos from happening.
St. Paul, Minnesota business owner Long Herr (left) spoke to Fox News Digital about how the 2020 George Floyd riots affected him and his business. (Getty Images)
““The next day, when I came here and found out my store had been vandalized, all I could do was cry as a man,” Ha told Fox News Digital through an interpreter representing May Lo Siong, a Republican running for Congress in Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District.
Harr said the mob broke down his reinforced door and stole all of his store’s inventory, worth $200,000.
“They broke down the front door which had a metal bar on it and used pliers to destroy the metal bar and then they came in and stole everything – clothes, merchandise, my shop,” Har said.
Hur told Fox News Digital that he tried to contact police multiple times but received no response. Asked about Gov. Tim Walz’s role in waiting days to activate the National Guard, Hur said he hopes Walz learns from mistakes in responding to the riots if he becomes vice president.
Minnesota business owner slams Walz’s coronavirus response and leadership on Black Lives Matter riots as ‘total failure’
Gov. Tim Walz waited several days before calling in the National Guard when riots ravaged Minneapolis in 2020. (Getty Images)
““If he becomes vice president, he needs to learn how to love the people here, especially in Minnesota, because of the destruction that has happened during his time in office,” Herr said. “He may be a good person, but he also needs to understand the people and the suffering that they are going through.”
The twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have still not fully recovered from the devastating riots that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, according to several people who spoke to Fox News Digital, and Herr said it took his business about two years to recover financially.
““It took us a year and a half to two years to recover, and during that time we lost a lot of customers because a lot of people were afraid to go out,” Herr said. “People stopped coming to shop, and as a result, we lost a lot of money and customers.”
He added that safety “was not a big concern” for Twin Cities business owners before 2020, but since the pandemic, “we’ve seen a significant increase in people shoplifting and stealing merchandise in stores.”
“There are a lot of homeless people sleeping in this area, which makes it very dangerous for shopkeepers and shoppers. That’s why we need to increase police resources to protect the businesses and residents in the area.”
Minneapolis is widely considered the epicenter of the police defunding movement, andBS News reported Earlier this year, the city’s police department announced it was short 200 officers and that police staffing had been reduced by 40 percent over the past four years.
““I don’t care what political party they’re in,” Herr said. “When it comes to police force and having more police on the streets to help our citizens, it should be nonpartisan.”
Fox News Digital asked Ha if he was concerned a situation like the 2020 riots could happen again.
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Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz arrive at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Luke)
““We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Herr said. “I hope nothing happens here in this lawless place. The freedom we have here is great. But we could have dangerous things happen, and we’ve already seen devastating damage in 2020.”
“We want to be prepared. No matter who’s in power, if something like this were to happen, we need to send in the National Guard to protect our people, our citizens and our businesses so we don’t have to experience this kind of destruction.”
