Santa Monica couple sees dreams shattered after optometry business ransacked by looters

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC) -- These days, many local business have been struggling to survive. The owners of one small business faced back-to-back hardships due to the COVID-19 shutdown as well as looting.

Two days after Sunny Optometry opened its doors in Santa Monica, the shop was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several weeks after that, the store was gutted by looters.

"Our alarm went off, and when we looked at our security cameras, it was just... just heartbroken to see that somebody kicked open our front door," said business owner Alice Sun. "And then there were more than 50 people just rushed into our office, grabbing everything they can put their hands on."

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Businesses along Van Nuys and Victory Boulevard are boarding up their storefronts for protection

With one kick, Sun's dreams were shattered, and their business was wiped out.

"We honestly don't know how we're going to come back from that, because we still have student loans, we have office loans. How we were able to afford to buy this practice and, and without an income? I don't know how I am supposed to pay the mortgage," said Sun.

It gets worse. Once the looters took what they could, a nearby restaurant caught fire. Smoke filled the building and sprinklers went off.

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STANDING STRONG: "I just definitely want to thank the Fairfax community for having my back 100%. I'm here for you, too." A local salon owner said residents were out cleaning the extensive damage done to her shop - even before she arrived at her store early Sunday morning.

"People think that with businesses, those people must have money. They must have insurance. They don't feel they are taking people's things personally but this is so personal," said Sun. "Even for big box stores, they're hurting too. But we're even worse than that because we don't have millions of dollars to reopen the store."

No money is coming in, bills are piling up and appointments have been canceled. Sun and her husband are now trying to pick up the pieces of their dream, while all the time wondering what they did do to deserve this.

If you want to help Sun and her husband, visit this GoFundMe page to donate.

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After weathering the coronavirus pandemic shutdown, some Santa Monica businesses were trying to recover from being ransacked by looters.