MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — While many Americans view the Fourth of July as a time for joyous celebration, for one business owner in Madison County, it turned into a day fraught with difficulty.
“It’s incredibly disheartening that this had to occur on the Fourth, of all days. People are simply looking to celebrate,” stated Evan Lake, owner of Crazy E’s Fireworks.
The night before Independence Day, Lake and his family stocked their store with an array of fireworks, preparing for the holiday festivities.
However, in the predawn hours of that fateful day, Lake received alerts from his store’s security cameras.
“Upon checking, we discovered numerous images of individuals breaking in and essentially ransacking the entire store,” Lake recounted.
This is the first time his store has been broken into, but he’s not alone. Lake said local businesses take a big hit when incidents like this happen.
“We are, and all the others, we’re all local family-owned businesses, so it really hits us where it hurts. It’s not something where we’re a big chain and we can just write it off,” Lake said.
And this theft hit his wallet hard on what was supposed to be a very busy day at the store. He said they lost a minimum of $10,000.
“We had all the massive inventory in there,” Lake said.
He’s now asking residents to keep an eye out for the people involved.
“Five young men. They’re all 2os. One even looks like he could be in his teens. Most of them, they were hooded, and they had a mask on covering their faces. But there is one you can see his face pretty clear in the footage,” Lake said.
Right now, Lake and his family are looking to increase security next year.
“We’re just going to try and do what we can to prepare better for next year. Somehow we’ll get funds to keep doing this and then to get better security,” Lake said.
If you have information on the people involved in the break-in, you’re encouraged to reach out to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at 256-533-8820. A reward will be offered for information leading to an arrest.