Portland coffee house vandalized after announcing ‘coffee with a cop’ event

By Chandler Watkins and FOX 12 Staff

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    PORTLAND Oregon (KPTV) — A Portland coffee house was vandalized Wednesday morning after it announced a “coffee with a cop” event.

The Portland Police Bureau was asking for information to identify the suspects.

Around 2:51a.m., officers responded to a report of vandalism at the Bison Coffeehouse in the 3900 Block of Northeast Cully Boulevard. When they arrived, they found windows had been broken, property damaged, and white debris from a discharged fire extinguisher throughout the interior, according to a PPB statement.

By the time officers arrived the suspects were long gone, the bureau stated.

PPB said early information suggests that the business was targeted after it advertised that it would be hosting “Coffee with a Cop.”

Owner Loretta Guzman says a neighbor near the coffee shop called soon after the vandalism, waking her up to tell her the news.

“All my windows in the front and my door was busted out,” said Guzman. “I got dressed and came down here. Police were already here. I was just looking. You could still hear all the glass cracking, dropping, and breaking. At first I just thought just the windows were broken, but my brother kept talking about paint all the way to the back of the shop. I didn’t know what he was talking about until I looked through the windows. He said they sprayed paint through the whole entire building. I was just so in shock. I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know where to start.”

Guzman says her friends told her she was still going to open her coffee shop and still hold her “Coffee with a Cop” event. After walking around to survey the damage, she noticed people had started to gather outside the shop.

“People were standing out there wanting to know what happened,” said Guzman. “I came in, they followed and asked what they could do to help. I said we need to clean paint. They said ok. They grabbed rags and we all got to work scrubbing the paint off the walls, the counter, the floor, my bison. We’ve been here all day.”

Guzman was born and raised in Portland. She says Bison Coffeehouse’s eighth-year anniversary in the Northeast Portland community is next month. She’s grateful for the support from her neighbors, friends, and family following this incident.

“There are still things we got to clean and get repaired, but the outpouring of customers, friends, neighbors who asked what they could do to help,” said Guzman. “They wanted to help.”

Portland Police even assisted in clean up efforts. PPB said early information suggests that the business was targeted after it advertised that it would be hosting “Coffee with a Cop.” Guzman says she’s never had problems with previous “Coffee with a Cop” events, but on a social media post for Wednesday’s event, she received several negative comments.

“People always thank me because it gave them a platform to sit down and talk to police about certain issues in our community,” said Guzman. “I thought it was going to be like the past events that opened doors, where they heard our concerns, they got to know who we are and we got to know who they are. People were saying ugly things online. I chose not to feed into it. My community and my friends said they were glad I was doing it. I know the people who did this are not customers or community members. I just want whoever did this and tried to cause fear, I want them to know we still did it. We still did the event.”

Guzman says her family started a GoFundMe to help with repairs to her coffee shop.

PPB asked for anyone who has information about this crime or the suspects involved to e-mail crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 22-267489.

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