A Pressed LKLD employee arrived at work at about 8 a.m. Wednesday to find a small rock had been thrown through the upper right corner of the business’ front door. Owner Christina Needham contacted the Lakeland Police Department to report the incident.
“We’re grateful this occurred during non-business hours and no one was harmed,” read Pressed LKLD’s Facebook post on the incident. “We are however, deeply saddened and confused as to why anyone would do this, whether we were an intentional target or not.”
The glass door stayed intact and did not fall out of the frame, and the vandals were not able to enter the coffee and bookshop.
Needham told officers she recently had security cameras installed, according to the report, but they did not trigger and did not capture any footage of the suspects.
Lakeland police contacted Tony Davila, clean and safe manager for Lakeland Downtown Development Authority. Davila said the LDDA’s camera at Kentucky Avenue and East Bay Street recorded an individual near Pressed LKLD at about 12:19 a.m., who then ran toward NoBay apartments. Officers noted the video was not clear enough to make out the individual.
Officers also contacted the NoBay apartment manager, who said the camera pointed in Pressed’s direction did not work well and did not pick up movement or record any video.
As of Friday morning, Pressed had temporarily placed a board over the portion of the front door where the glass was. The shop was open for business.
“We also want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support and concern on our behalf. To know our community is willing to help in any and every way brings us peace about picking up the pieces (literally) and moving forward,” read Pressed LKLD’s Facebook post, signed by Needham.
A police officer did find graffiti spray painted a portion of the U.S. 98 Bypass bridge supports a short distance from Pressed about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Five spray paint cans were collected from the area, which the officer sent to a lab requesting they be examined for potential fingerprints.