HARLINGEN — The faces of Drake, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj painted on the walls of Iced Cube Raspas are now defaced.
In a social media post, Iced Cube Raspas complained of the vandalism believed to have happened over the weekend, while also offering a reward to anyone who had information.
Owner Lorie Ramirez said a customer pointed out the graffiti on Saturday. She had not noticed and neither had her employees.
“We were assuming it happened Friday evening. It’s the first time anything like this has ever happened,” she said.
Iced Cube opened last year in Harlingen and is located at 602 Lewis Lane. It has not yet gotten to its one year anniversary.
Ramirez filed a police report and said officers stated they are looking into any related incidents in the area.
She said she did not believe the vandalism happened during business hours.
“I feel it’s such a shame for someone to do that to any business in general, but especially under the current circumstances,” Ramirez said.
“We as small businesses are really struggling right now and for someone to find pleasure in hurting their community this way is very disappointing in my eyes,” she said.
A similar incident occurred on the other side of Harlingen, targeting two neighborhood businesses — Lonnie’s Down Home and Sab’s Candy Shop.
Samantha Ponce, owner of Sab’s Candy Shop, was told by a customer Friday evening someone had painted graffiti on the trashcan.
The customer was also able to take a picture of the license plates of the suspect.
Ponce said no one had painted on their property before, but people had taken their trash out in the past.
“We didn’t do anything until it happened at Lonnie’s down the street, too. They painted their sign,” she said.
“They did a report and included us in it. Officers came by to ask us questions to investigate,” she said.
Ponce said the graffiti done to her business and to Iced Cube was similar.
“People have nothing to do. They just mess with people who are working. It’s just crazy,” Ponce said.
Sergeant Larry Moore of the Harlingen Police Department said the case had been assigned to investigators.
Moore explained the act was not initiated by the current shelter-in-place order, as people commented on social media.
“Graffiti cases occur here and there, but investigators are working on it,” he said.
