HARLINGEN — The New York Deli restaurant was vandalized in the early hours of Monday morning, according to owner John Rendon, and it is not the first time.
Rendon said the main chef called him at 8 a.m. to let him know a brick had been thrown through the window.
Rendon, along with his wife Stephanie, lives in Brownsville and does not have cameras installed in the restaurant. He said he called the police when he arrived at the restaurant.
“They just broke the window. I guess the alarm went off and scared them off. They have done this a few times already over the years,” Rendon said, adding nothing was stolen.
“I would say since we have been here it has happened at least 12 times,” he said.
The Harlingen location opened December 1999.
Based on a Facebook post from a year ago in late August, this same location was broken into and had the cash register stolen.
Rendon said he feels frustrated since it has happened too many times.
“We work hard here, and we have to pay for that window. With everything going on with the pandemic it still hasn’t gotten back to where it is, and now we have people doing stuff like this,” he said.
Rendon has considered installing cameras inside but is unsure if it would help.
“We are working class people and for people to be doing that is very frustrating,” Rendon said.
“The cops did get here promptly and got here as soon as they could and made a report. I am not the only place that has had their windows broken here downtown. I don’t know what they could do to try to stop that. It’s frustrating,” he said.
