Attempted break-in at veteran-owned GR coffee shop
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Just before Memorial Day Weekend, a veteran-owned coffee shop in downtown Grand Rapids is cleaning up after a man tried to break into it Monday night.
HAS HEART Coffee Shop co-owner Michael Hyacinthe, a Navy veteran himself, said he got a call around 10 p.m. Monday initially for police activity near the nonprofit, which sits just west of Veterans Memorial Park.
Witnesses said a man was trying to break into the coffee shop after failing to do so at the civic theater nearby. A bystander stopped him and held him down until officers arrived and arrested him.
Grand Rapids police did not release the suspect’s name, age or motive, but witnesses say he was drunk and “being belligerent” around Veterans Memorial Park.
Hyacinthe said no one was inside the coffee shop at the time, and nothing was stolen. However, he explained that the incident resurfaced trauma from the 2020 riots.
“Our building was actually vandalized. It brought back a lot of emotions that occurred as a person of color, as a veteran,” Hyacinthe said. “It just brought me back to a time when I was really trying to figure out: ‘What am I doing here? What’s happening in our country?’ But fortunately, we got over that.”
Police recommended charges of attempted breaking and entering and destruction of property, but Hyacinthe declined. Instead, he will talk to the suspect and offer him the help that he needs, since he has no prior violent history.
While city crews are working to repair the windows, Hyacinthe says they are waiting for insurance adjustors and are planning to invest in a surveillance camera system.
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