INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers are seeing an uptick in crime around Mass Ave. Where many people spend time with their friends and family, several businesses have been burglarized or vandalized within the last two weeks.
Natural Born Juicers on Mass Ave is one of the local businesses where the owners are now dealing with the stress of making police reports and reviewing surveillance video, after someone smashed in their front door.
"I got here as the police were coming in the door," Natural Born Juicers Operation Manager, Zak Huff, said. "When I got here the bottom half of our big glass door was busted open. And our register was gone."
Huff has worked at the Mass Ave location for five years. During that time, he's heard of other vandalism and burglary cases in the area but says his store was never targeted.
"It was shocking. It's something you don't ever expect to happen. Also kind of relieved that nothing was really taken - there was no money in the register. We didn't lose a large amount, just an iPad," Huff said.
Just a few blocks away, on East Street, Furr Pet Spa and Wellness Clinic, has dealt with a similar crime. Just over a week ago, someone also broke their front door with a rock, but nothing was taken.
"We were obviously upset. We always felt very safe here. So it's kind of a bummer," said Andi Merrill with Furr Pet Spa and Wellness. "We were thankful nobody actually tried to break-in, they literally just threw a rock through the door."
Surveillance video at the exact time the alarm went off captures a man standing by the store and then quickly walking away.
"It's frustrating knowing someone is going around doing this. It's supposed to be a nice family area and we should feel safe," Merrill said.
In response to the recent crime, IMPD downtown district officers are holding a meeting Friday morning. The meeting will be held at their office at 10 a.m. on 39 West Jackson Street.
They are asking local business owners and people living in the area to come together so they can continue building a partnership to be proactive and deter crime.
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