Black Lives Matter rioters looted Kenosha, Wisconsin small business Gravity Gaming Lounge during a night of chaos following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Gravity Gaming Lounge took to Facebook where they confirmed their business had been looted and that they would never reopen again.
They posted, “We got looted. Everything in the store was taken and the place was destroyed.”
They then detailed that they will not be able to recover from the looting and destruction, “For a business that was struggling to get back to normal and pushing through these hard times we will not be able to come back from this.”
“The damage to our building and the cost to replace the exterior damage and to top it off to replace everything stolen is going to be catastrophic,” they added.
Gravity Gaming Lounge then confirmed they would be shutting down for good, “As we look to see the total costs, at this point we will be closing down completely.”
They concluded their statement by thanking their customers and those who had supported them over the years, “We want to thank everyone coming out and supporting us these past couple of years they have been great and we have definitely had fun. We wish everyone the best and pray you stay safe.”
Twitter User GGuntaku shared two pictures showing the destruction inside the store.
Gravity Gaming Lounge also detailed that they would not be setting up a GoFundMe. They wrote on Facebook, “We will not be setting up a gofund me at this time and will still be closing down permanently. Everyone at Gravity thanks all of you that supported us over the years and we wish everyone a happy and bright future! Stay safe everyone!”
In a follow-up statement, also posted to Facebook, they elaborated on their decision to shut down the business for good.
It began, “We spent most of today looking at the damage and everything stolen and evaluating our business decision. Cleaning and getting what was remaining out and boarding up to protect the building from further harm.”
“It brings us to tears to see all the support flooding in from our customers and the community. For those that messaged us we will eventually respond it’s just been a heart wrecking day to see something we fought for just taken from us,” the statement continued.
They then provided an estimate on how much damage the Black Lives Matters looters and rioters caused to their building and provided details on the type of destruction caused, “We estimate our damage to the building to be close to $20,000 having to replace both doors, several windows and fix interior damage caused during this horrific event.”
Next, they provided an estimate for how much merchandise was stolen from the store, “We also estimate our loss of operating equipment to be roughly $20,000 our break down comes from : 8 Xbox one S and 8 PS4 pros as all our consoles were stolen.”
They continued, “Our game collection for both consoles were roughly about $10000 and we had 8 damaged monitors beyond repair, 2 PC setups completely stolen along with several mouse and keyboard setups. We also lost 2 Nintendo switches and all games associated with the console and 2 Game Pro Controllers.”
Gravity Gaming Lounge continued, “All our televisions were either stolen or completely destroyed. We suffered damage to our display cases, camera systems, mini fridges used to hold beverages and many other smaller things.”
They also told their followers to not donate anything. They explained, “At this time, please do not donate anything as our costs are highly significant and as much as we appreciate the help and support we do not feel comfortable taking others money when we know everyone is struggling and not just us.”
“We care for the community and the last thing we want to do with our given times is take something that someone else is more deserving of in this time,” they elaborated.
They then detailed how in awe they were of the community’s support following the destruction of their business by violent Black Lives Matter rioters, “. It truly has been something else to see everyone offer up what they have and honestly we can’t love you enough for wanting to do it. We will be fighting with our insurance company over the next month to settle but we have a long road and journey.”
The statement concluded, “To those that came downtown and asked to help: We appreciate everything 100000% it made today more bearable and it makes everything less tragic. Knowing the community we love come together in hard times is well rewarding.”
Despite Gravity Gaming Lounge repeatedly noting they were not setting up a GoFundMe, YouTuber The Quartering did launch a GoFundMe for the store.
He discussed it in a video discussing the store’s destruction. He stated, “I will seed this with as much as I possibly can.”
The Quartering added, “I’m sick and tired of cleaning up after these people, but what are our options? What are our options? Just sit and be angry about it? Wait for the local municipality to fix it? Wait for big corporate insurance companies to fix it while these people can’t put food on their table for families?”
He continued, “We have to be better. We can’t just raise our hands in the air and…What can we do? Yea, I’m sick and tired of cleaning up after them too. Sick and tired of it. But the alternative is a dark path. It’s one where you just accept this as a reality. Where you accept people aren’t inherently good.”
Later, he stated, “The people that own this business shop had nothing to do with it and we are going to help them.”
On the GoFundMe page he wrote, “Gravity Gaming Lounge is a place in downtown Kenosha where gamers can get together & build relationships & have a great time. Last night protesters looted the entire store and it has been forced to shut down.”
He added, “The damages are about $50,000. I live about 25 minutes away from this place and I don’t want to let this happen. My name Is Jeremy Hambly, I live 25 minutes north of Kenosha and visit often. I also run the Youtube channel TheQuartering and have reached out to the owners via facebook.”
He then reiterates the official statements made by Gravity Gaming Lounge on their Facebook posts.
The GoFundMe has currently raised $20,239 and is aiming to raise $40,000. Hambly donated $1,000 himself.
Gravity Gaming Lounge more than likely won’t be the only business to be attacked by violent Black Lives Matter protestors.
Kenosha Black Lives Matters leader Whitney Cabal, who goes by Billy Violet online, called for more looting, rioting, and burning until the police officer who shot Jacob Blake is fired.
Insider reports Cabal stated, “People are mad.” Cabal added, “Until this city hears that the officer has been fired or what the update is, the city is going to keep burning.”
The officers involved in the shooting have been put on administrative leave according to a press release from the office of Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.
What do you make of Gravity Gaming Lounge’s decision to shut down after being destroyed by Black Lives Matter rioters and looters?