LOS ANGELES – A restaurant owner outside Los Angeles is opening up about her decision to help police officers who were tear-gassed during riots outside her business June 7.

Elizabeth Mendoza is the owner of La Ceiba Restaurant, a Salvadoran eatery in Long Beach, who told Fox News Digital she welcomed both police and protesters who entered her business seeking help after being pepper-sprayed that Saturday afternoon.

“I feel sad because my city … it’s a good city,” she said. “My people is honest. My people have to work a lot. I’m here for 14 years. I know my people, and I feel bad … when I saw the police. The police need my help, too, because they are human like me. They feel everything like me.

“They have to … work,” she said, adding she has received thanks from police for helping officers that day

A police officer’s face is covered in pepper spray outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles June 8, 2025, after an immigration raid protest. (Jae Hong)

The rioting continued into the weekend and ensuing weeknights.