Police said that a large fight started inside of District Bar and Grill, 205 W State St., around 12:20 a.m. The fight then spilled out onto the street, with one man firing a gun towards the other group. The 26-year-old was hit in the stomach.
Nearby stores were hit in the crossfire, and that includes TNT Funnel Cakes. Ashley Washington, co-owner of the store, said that they had so shut down their store to clean up a mess that they were not even a part of.
“This is like my child, this is like a baby for me, so it’s like my baby just got shot,” Washington said.
Bullets struck the store, damaging windows and forcing them to shut down due to the repercussions of gun violence in Downtown Rockford.
“It was reckless, and that’s the part that’s most frustrating,” Washington said.
Not being involved, Washington said that she is trying to find the positives in the unfortunate situation.
“I’m grateful it happened at night and midnight, but there still were people out here. Like, people live across the street, so it could’ve the bullet,” Washington said. “I guess I’m grateful it came this way, cause it could’ve went across the street to where the people live.”
The damages forced the store to miss out on a busy weekend, with the skating competition taking place at the BMO Center. Washington’s electric bill also soared as she tried to heat the place with no windows.
“When I came in, I was completely overwhelmed with the cleanup,” she said. “Clean up outside, clean up inside.”
With the community’s help, that only motivated Washington to get back as soon as possible.
“The community has been awesome,” she said. “The community has said they would come and support. I guess bittersweet, some people didn’t even know that we were down here. So, some people who are hearing about this are like, ‘oh, I didn’t even know the funnel cake shop was there.'”
A lot of her frustration comes from knowing that this did not have to happen.
“Again, why? The community is standing to it. Like, why, why do we keep coming to this point,” Washington said. “If you were fighting, ok, people have arguments, bar fights happen, right? Why did we have to get the gun?”
TNT Funnel Cakes will be open back up on Tuesday for take-out only.
