NC barber is grateful for man who stopped vandalism in protest video that’s gone viral
A Raleigh barbershop owner wants to thank the person who attempted to save his business from being vandalized.
In a now-viral TikTok video, a man used a skateboard to smash a door window at Ray’s Hair Shop, a barbershop on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. Protests over the death of George Floyd, an African-American who was killed by police in Minneapolis, have occurred in downtown Raleigh each day since Saturday.
While protesters marched through downtown, vandals looted and set fire to businesses. Police shot rubber bullets and sprayed tear gas at protesters.
After breaking the first door window at Ray’s, the vandal tried to break a second window with the skateboard when another man grabbed the skateboard from his hands. Others surround the vandal and appear to tell him to leave.
The incident happened Saturday night, said Simon Garner, the owner of Ray’s Hair Shop.
“He looked to me to be a spoiled brat,” Garner said of the vandal. “I don’t understand. I don’t know what my barbershop did to the little fella.”
Garner said later that looters broke into his business and stole a few things, including some clippers, a camera, and an American flag and a North Carolina flag.
Video of incident goes viral
Garner has owned Ray’s Hair Shop since 2012 and has been cutting hair there since 1999.
When asked what he thought of the viral video, Garner said he thought it was great to see video of people trying to prevent further damage to his property.
“The ones who were acting like they had some sense were the ones I thought would be protesting,” he said. “This young man, they couldn’t keep him under control.”
The video, which was also posted on Twitter, has been viewed more than 7 million times on the social media app, and more than 6.6 million times on TikTok. It was shared by celebrities, including R&B singer Janelle Monae and filmmaker Ava Duvernay.
“I’m seeing this all across the country in video after video for a week,” Duvernay tweeted. “I wish more mainstream outlets would cover it. They won’t. They don’t. But we know.”
Singer Maggie Lindemann tweeted the video with the comment: “PROTESTERS ARE PROTESTING AND LOOTERS ARE LOOTING!! don’t let the media tell you otherwise!!!!!”
When contacted Wednesday, Garner, the shop owner, said he didn’t realize how much attention it had received on social media. He said someone who offered to help him clean up his showed him the video. He said he’s thankful to the people who helped stop the vandalism.
“Thank you very much for looking out for me my property and this barbershop,” he said. “You’re great people. I’d like to shake their hands. It could have been a lot worse and they prevented it.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 7:01 PM.
