Family-owned restaurant vandalized, at center of gang territory dispute, police say

LOS ANGELES - An investigation continues after a family-owned restaurant in East Hollywood was tagged and vandalized. 

Investigators said a vandal walked into El Zarape Melrose Restaurant around 2:30 a.m. Monday, ransacking the place and causing the business tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Police initially told the family that owns the restaurant that the destruction was tied to a gang territory dispute.

The vandal, who was caught on security camera, spray-painted one camera before tagging the furniture and the walls. He then sprayed another camera.

By the time he left, the Melrose Heights restaurant was destroyed.

Everything inside was tagged — the walls, the tables, the seats and the television screens. 

Only two things were taken: a computer, and a safe with an estimated $20,000 inside. Combined with the damage to the restaurant, the ordeal will cost the family roughly $80,000. 

Police don't know who the man caught on camera is, but officers told the restaurant owner, Alberto Mendez, that the tagging was the work of a local gang.

The LAPD said the department’s burglary detectives were investigation.

"This investigation is in the preliminary stage and we are in the process of interviews and canvassing for video. I can confirm there was gang graffiti at the burglary location, but nothing that would denote any gang ‘rivalry,’" LAPD Captain Mike Rippe said in a statement.

He continued to write, "We will continue to investigate and monitor that area for any issues as well as attempting to identify the perpetrator of the crime." 

"The officer said this was MS-13 territory, and [the] people who came in are their rivals," Mendez said.

Mendez is trying to raise money to fix the damage to the restaurant. Information on that fundraiser can be found by tapping or clicking here.