The shop, Annapurna Grocery and Gifts, came under attack from a small mob in the middle of the afternoon. They smashed the windows and double doors before stripping nearly everything they could find. All that was left last night were lines of stripped shelves, some onions and a few empty sweet boxes.
"What is she going to do? This isn’t her fault. Is the city going to help her? She doesn’t even have insurance," said Kanwel, who said she left her children at home crying to come to help with the clean-up. "We wouldn’t even think that something like this could happen in Baltimore." She speculated that the young men may have targeted the shop because they knew it was owned by Pakistanis.
After Freddie Gray: Baltimore unrest in pictures
Show all 22
Faiazan Shaheed said he is convinced that the men that did this to his aunt were members of normally warring gangs who declared in a message to police earlier on Monday that they intended to unite to "purge" the city as anger continued to rage over the death over a week ago of a 25-year-old African-American man, Freddie Gray, seven days after being arrested by Baltimore police.
Before racing to his aunt's shop, he said he witnessed young black men gathering at a Baltimore petrol station near his home offering bottles of Grey Goose vodka, that they had presumably looted, for one dollar each. "I swear to God," he said. Packs of whiskey miniatures were being offered to passers-by for $2 each.
Read more: State of emergency declared in Baltimore Baltimore community centre goes up in flames Freddie Gray's family appeal for calm amid riots The family believe that their losses will run to about $100,000. They hadn’t shared that figure with their aunt last night, for fear it would be too much for her. She had been ordered by police to leave the shop shortly before the mob entered it. When she returned an hour later she discovered the lost inventory and smashed windows. "She couldn’t even speak for 30 minutes, she was so overcome," her niece explained to The Independent.
"They were basically kids," said Mr Shaheed, "but I know that they all belonged to the gangs, the Crips, the Bloods and the Black Guerilla Family."
Her shop seemed to have been singled out. A few other businesses on the block had broken windows last night but were otherwise undamaged. Compared to some other shops in the city, including a large CVS chemists in the northwest area, maybe his aunt was lucky. But at least no one had set fire to her place.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies