SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - The owners of a new beauty supply store in Southwest Miami-Dade are devastated after their store was vandalized in an arson attack days before it was set to open.
The Grand Lash House, located at 9712 SW 40th St. in Olympia Heights, was set on fire Thursday night by two men.
Surveillance video shows the subjects as they circled the business on a motorcycle. They disappear and come back on foot, but this time, they smash the windows, pour accelerant inside the building and then set it on fire.
Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire before it spread to neighboring businesses.
Indira Ortega, who owns the beauty supply store with her husband Alex Ortega, said this arson attack has crushed her dreams.
“I started crying, my first reaction is, ‘This was my dream,'” she said. “I’d been dreaming about this for eight years.”
Indira received a phone call in the middle of the night that her beauty supply store, which was set to open on May 5, was gutted by flames.
Alex, after watching the video of the arson attack, said he hopes that whoever is responsible for this gets “what they deserve.”
“I hope the weight of the law comes down on them,” he said.
Indira believes this act of vandalism was done intentionally.
“The person who did this, he did it on purpose,” she said. “He knows that the place was about to open on May 5. He did it on purpose.”
Indira and Alex spent much of Thursday gutting the store, cleaning the ash off the walls and dealing with water damage to the floors, as they did their best to salvage what they have left.
“There is no way to save it,” said Indira. “Like, we have to repaint it, we have to do a lot of things, put a lot of chemical products here to take the smell [off].”
The couple said tens of thousands of dollars put into their dream business are now gone. They hope to get their business back on track but want the people behind the arson attack caught.
“We put everything into this business — savings, loans, a lot of money into this place — and now we have to start building everything up again,” said Indira.
Police are still investigating the arson attack, but Indira told 7News she thinks she knows who did this to her business.
“The person I suspect, we used to be friends,” she said.
The couple and business owners of The Grand Lash House said they did not have insurance in time of the fire and will have to pay $40,000 out of pocket.
“You never suspect that a business that is not even open, someone can just come and destroy what you are doing with a lot of sacrifices and a lot of money, a lot of family time invested, it’s a lot,” said Indira.
Indira and Alex have set up a GoFundMe asking for help for repair costs adding up to $40,000.
If you have any information on this arson attack or the subjects’ whereabouts, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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