NATIONAL CITY, Calif. (KGTV) - Employees at a popular barber shop in National City were greeted with a mess, after a vandal carved out a path of destruction.
Stunned barbers soaked in the scene on Sunday morning at Five Star Barber Shop.
“It was heartbreaking, and just everybody's spirits were really down,” said Rose Jasso.
Inside the barbershop known for memorabilia—some movie-themed—was a disaster scene.
“Chaos, like a tornado went through,” said Jasso.
Jasso, one of the barbers who calls the shop home, says just before 6 a.m. that morning, someone smashed open the front door, before grabbing an antique sword and axe in the back, and hacking his way through the shop. The vandal shattered mirrors, damaged the ceiling, and tossed aside just about everything inside.
‘The barber chairs were flipped over. All the clippers were damaged on the floor. Just everything was in pieces, glass everywhere,” said Jasso.
Most of the barber tools were no longer usable. About a quarter of the memorabilia was ruined.
Jasso hopes video clues will help track down the vandal. Surveillance video shows a man in a cap leaving the back of the shop with the sword, axe and some artwork.
The break-in and vandalism expected to total more than $10,000 in losses, most of it not covered by insurance.
When a fundraiser was set up, the donations poured in, for a barbershop, like so many salons, that is still recovering from the pandemic.
"Grateful for everyone reaching out. It means a lot,” said Jasso. “It definitely feels like another big hit … We will not let this defeat our spirits.”
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call National City Police at 619-336-4411 or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
