Jacksonville veteran-owned restaurant burglarized

A veteran-owned restaurant on Jacksonville’s Westside was broken into early Tuesday morning.

Surveillance video shows a thief rummaging through the refrigerator inside II Saints Restaurant & Grill on 103rd St. in the Jacksonville Heights area.

Sha’Ron Jenkins and her husband Arthur own the restaurant and said they got an alert from their security company around 3:30 a.m.

The retired Navy couple said they pulled up the surveillance video on their phone and saw a man raiding their restaurant kitchen.

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“It was definitely scary,” Sha’Ron Jenkins said. “I could feel my heart pounding and things were racing through my mind like, ‘I can’t believe someone is doing this right now.’”

In the video, the man pulls out a bag from underneath his shirt and pulls items out of the refrigerator.

“You would’ve thought it was Christmas,” Sha’Ron Jenkins said. “He just made his way around the kitchen to see whatever he could take.”

Surveillance video also shows the suspect go into the walk-in fridge and carry a whole tray of steaks out.

“He took steaks, he took bags of french fries and the shrimp, so surf and turf and a side of fries,” Sha’Ron Jenkins said.

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JSO responded to the restaurant, but the suspect snuck out the back door.

The report said police found the suspect’s duffel bag in the woods full of steaks.

Sha’Ron Jenkins said the suspect used a crowbar to pry open the side door to the business. She also said the man snapped the wire to the outside surveillance camera.

The restaurant owners said the suspect caused thousands of dollars in damage.

The couple said the man needs to face the consequences, but they forgive him.

“If he’s hungry, I would definitely like to feed him. That’s why we’re here,” Sha’Ron Jenkins said. “We served our country — 23 years and 24 years — and so now we’re here serving our community, so we don’t want someone to feel that they have to take from us because we’re givers.”

Cox Media Group