Charlotte County bar owners seek answers after woman smashes in windows

The search is on for a suspect who authorities say broke the window at a Charlotte County bar.

The incident happened at Hawgz and Dawgz, and now the owner just wants that person to come forward.

“We were vandalized by someone’s grandma, honestly,” said co-owner Jamie Charleston.

Charleston says broken glass was found outside the front of his bar Friday morning. The act of vandalism was all captured on surveillance cameras.

“Saw someone coming up, nonchalantly coming up and busting out the glass and taking off running,” Charleston said.

He says when the glass broke, sensors sounded, which scared the woman off.

“She hit it so hard that the glass was all the way back by the triple sink and on the other side of the bar. There was glass everywhere,” Charleston said.

No other damage was done, and Charleston says he was able to fix it the same day.

He then posted the video of the crime to Facebook hoping customers could help track the woman down. The video now has more than 4,000 views.

“Our customers and even some of the neighbors are pretty upset about it,” Charleston said.

It has some wondering what the suspect’s motivation could be.

Hawgz and Dawgz is a relatively new business, opening in just the last four months. The owner says there was initially some push back from neighbors, but says they haven’t had any problems since opening their doors.

“We keep it cleaned up. When we do music here it’s…the music faces the street, I don’t point it towards the neighbors, so we try to keep everybody happy. I don’t know, maybe she was a disgruntled neighbor, but all she had to do was come talk to us,” Charleston said.

He adds that management desperately wants answers and they are now calling the woman to come forward or face a vandalism charge.

“We’re friendly, we’re approachable. You know, we want to work with everybody and try to keep everybody happy. We want a peaceful business, working hard to keep that,” Charleston said.

While the owners say they won’t press charges if the woman comes forward, for now, Charlotte County deputies say it’s still an open investigation.