Police investigate shattered door at Three Rivers bookstore
THREE RIVERS, Mich. (WOOD) — Police are investigating what they're calling "malicious destruction of property" after a bookstore's glass door was shattered recently in downtown Three Rivers.
The store's owner and the founder for the city's Pride festival said they are worried there's more to the case.
On the morning of Sept. 20, Tom Lowry and his bookstore staff say they found that one of the side doors was left shattered.
"Our very first customer, after she checked out said, 'I'm sorry about your window,' and so we all walked outside to look at it," said Lowry.
The splintered glass obscured the poster for the Netflix show "Heartstopper," a comedy drama with a gay teen couple as a major part of the plot.
Lowry said the team then posted about the incident on their Facebook page.
"We at Lowry's are very sad to see our store damaged due to hatred. We as a bookstore spread love and diversity and will not stop doing such," the post read.
The support flooded in online and in person.
"I've had people actually walk into the store for the last 10 days, not only had they posted but also they wanted to hear it personally from them. Some of them I've never knew before. So they have driven here from Kalamazoo or somewhere just to state that to me. So I am overwhelmed by the support we have received," said Lowry.
The Three Rivers police Department told News 8 the case is being investigated as a malicious destruction of property. They add that pride flags near the business were left undamaged. Police say because Lowry is the city's mayor, the act could have been from a citizen with issues with local government.
But both Lowry and the founder of Three Rivers Pride believes the motive was anti-gay.
"To me, its demonstrative of the hatred that simmers out there. There's a certain amount of anti-gay feelings here and there is anywhere. It's our gut feeling that it's anti-gay."
Andrew George, the Founder of Three Rivers Pride and chairman for the Downtown Three Rivers Board, echoes Lowry.
"This type of stuff doesn't happen hardly ever. So it does seems very targeted. So that's a little bit alarming. Overall, I feel that we have a very safe downtown," said George.
Last week, the glass was replaced with the poster back up. This time, accompanied with pride flags. George said it's a message of support for the LGBTQ+ community in Three Rivers.
"We are going to continue to fight against these types of issues. We are going to continue to hold Three Rivers Pride Festival as long as we can," said George.
Three Rivers Police are asking anyone with information that could aid the investigation to reach out to the department at 269.278.1235.
