A Detroit business owner is cleaning up and looking to re-open as quickly as possible after a van crashed into his store overnight.
Instead of opening to customers on Monday morning, he was packing p a U-Haul truck, salvaging what thieves left behind after a daring smash-and-grab burglary.
“It feels bad because I feel like my own people did this to me,” said Keith Owens, owner of the My Place Fashion store on Greenfield near Schoolcraft on Detroit’s northwest side.
The owner received a 3:00 a.m. wake-up call that he never wanted.
“The alarm company told me that someone smashed the front glass.”
That may have been an understatement. The scene that greeted Owens upon his arrival was a 2001 Plymouth Voyager mini-van in the store... on its side where blue jeans, shirts and other clothing items should be.
“Merchandise was destroyed. A lot of stuff was missing,” said Owens. He is just beginning to assess his losses, but said clothing, purses and jewelry worth an estimated $6,000 were stolen. "I’m just trying to salvage the little pieces that I have left over.”
Family members were helping with the cleanup. Owens said he had only been open a few months in that location and was working to show his son how to be a businessman.
“I bring my son up here and I try to show him how to be an entrepreneur,” said Owen. “For this to happen, he’s going to come and look like, ‘Dad, what happened?’”
The store has cameras installed in the ceiling. However, Owens says the system was not set up to record. Security cameras at neighboring business did not capture the crime. Detroit Police investigators are processing the van for evidence but do not have any suspects.
Owens says he is insured and plans to bounce back. He hopes to reopen, as soon as possible at the same location or another nearby.
