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WOODLAND, Calif. (KCRA) — A Woodland pharmacy said its business was vandalized Saturday night with a broken window and an anti-gay slur painted on it.
The Woodland Police Department said officers responded to an incident at Corner Drug Co. involving property damage and graffiti containing bias-motivated slurs.
“To the person that did this: we can fix a window, but you will always be broken,” the business said. “We documented the damage and cleaned up the scene this morning as a family with lots of good humor and teamwork. Thank you to our community for checking in with us and visiting our stores.”
The vandalism happened shortly after 1 a.m. at Corner Drug Co. on Main Street, according to the Woodland Police Department.
“We got the call that someone had smashed one of the windows of our store there in downtown Woodland and had written some pretty hateful things on another one of our windows,” co-owner Erik Daniells said.
The slur was later removed, and the damaged window was boarded up. Daniells said the window that was struck displayed several signs supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“It’s really disappointing to see that happen,” Daniells said. He described the graffiti as “anti-gay language.”
Surveillance video shared with KCRA 3 appears to show a masked person wearing a gray sweatshirt running from the store shortly after 1 a.m. The person appears to be carrying a hammer.
Woodland resident Kylie Koop condemned the vandalism.
“It’s disgusting that you can’t just let people live their lives and be proud about it,” Koop said. “I don’t think there’s a reason for hate. Just show a little love instead of hate.”
Daniells said the vandalism followed another incident at the pharmacy earlier in the week. According to Daniells, a content creator entered the business and confronted employees about Pride flags displayed inside the store. The person later posted video of the encounter online.
“Immediately, Woodland police came out and had them leave,” Daniells said. “But after this video was posted, of course, the online hate and backlash was pretty severe.”
Police have not said whether the online harassment and vandalism are connected.
Police said it’s actively searching to find who was responsible for the act and are looking into the motivation behind the incident. Police didn’t confirm that the incident was being investigated as a hate crime.
“We want to be clear: everyone in Woodland deserves to feel safe, respected, and welcome in our community,” police said. “Acts that target individuals or businesses because of who they are or are perceived to be are taken seriously.”
The business said it will be donating to several local LGBT nonprofits, such as Elevate Queer Yolo and Davis Phoenix Coalition, as a result of the vandalism.
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