A southwest Houston restaurant owner is searching for answers after a burglar forced his way inside their building and caused thousands of dollars worth of damage.
Pamela Baylis co-owns Pizza Tel Aviv located in the 9800 block of Hillcroft.
She told KPRC 2′s Bill Barajas she believes her restaurant was targeted for proudly displaying the Israeli flag.
“They came in through the roof, they came prepared, they cut through asphalt, concrete, and an aluminum roof and then dropped into our attic area,” said Baylis.
Baylis said the restaurant has received several threats over the flag in the past few weeks.
“I’ve had a bomb threat and I’ve had a truck pull up with two individuals that were speaking Arabic and different languages and they used hand gestures like they were going to shoot me,” Baylis said.
The latest incident happened at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday. Baylis told KPRC 2 that surveillance video captured the suspect inside rummaging through office files.
“He was not there for the money, he was there looking for something very, very specific. He went through all my paperwork,” said Baylis.
Baylis said the suspect left hundreds of dollars behind and eventually took off with an empty cash register and several Jewish prayer books.
She filed a police report with the Houston Police Department.
Authorities with the Houston Police Department posted a statement regarding the investigation on X, formerly known as Twitter:
We are aware of concerns within the Jewish community following the restaurant burglary earlier (Tuesday) at 9800 Hillcroft Avenue.
Based on preliminary investigation, and evidence review, it appears that this incident was not motivated by hate. It is believed to be the work of a lone individual who was burglarizing the business and trying to steal anything of value before fleeing the scene.
The Houston Police Department continues working with our federal, state, and local partners to ensure the safety of all Houstonians. At this time, there are no known threats to the city.
HPD asks anyone seeing suspicious activity to call 713-884-3131 or if it’s an emergency, dial 9-1-1.