Surveillance video captures suspect vandalizing Atlanta nonprofit

ATLANTA - A nonprofit focused on youth mentorship in Metro Atlanta becomes the latest target of vandalism. Now Atlanta police are investigating the incident that was caught on surveillance video at Glaciers Italian Ice Friday night. 

Video from interior cameras at the shop on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive shows the moments Atlanta police say a man hurled a rock at the front doors of the building—shattering the glass.

"One of our teammates was actually here," Executive Director Ian Elmore-Moore told FOX 5. "He actually walked to get himself something to eat late in the evening … he’s walking back, and he sees the gentleman doing it from down the street."

Elmore-Moore says his staff member also came back to find symbols of hate graffitied on the wall.

"I don’t know if they were seeking to get in, but they also did a swastika on the building," Elmore-Moore said. "They ruined the murals that we had."

Police have identified the person behind the vandalism as Abreu Williams. Williams was arrested, charged with disorderly conduct and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital for evaluation out of concern he was suffering from a mental health crisis.

The murals that were defaced had been specially painted to signify a safe space for youth in the community and the non-profit’s mission of mentorship, according to Elmore-Moore. 

With the doors to the space now boarded up, Elmore-Moore says he isn’t comfortable having customers and staff inside the shop until it’s repaired.

Glaciers Italian Ice vandalism

"I’ve gotten estimates from $3,000 all the way up to $9,000," he said.

But he told FOX 5, Glaciers Italian Ice isn’t going anywhere and will continue to conduct business using push carts outside the building.

"There’s kids that want to play chess. There’s kids who come here every day after school. There’s kids who need after-school tutoring," he said. "It’s really inconvenient, but we’ve been in this community for so long."

Elmore-Moore said he’s grateful no one was injured, and no kids were present at the time. Still, he’s taking this situation as an opportunity to teach the youth they mentor about resilience.

"The work has to continue, the work can’t stop because we don’t want our children to grow up and do what happened to us tonight," he said.

Williams is in custody at the Atlanta City Detention Center. For information on how you can support Glaciers Italian Ice you can click here.