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Some downtown employees can’t work because of damage to businesses from riots

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There’s an unseen side effect to the damage from this weekend’s violent riots downtown, and it’s certainly being felt.

Some downtown businesses are so badly damaged that their employees can’t go back to work.

The sound of buzz saws and drills could be heard downtown on Tuesday afternoon. People were still cleaning up the mess from this weekend’s violent riots.

“They just busted out all the doors and windows on that entrance,” Davin Gray, of Indianapolis, said.

Gray said he isn’t able to do his volunteer work at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on Tuesday, because of that damage.

“It hurts because the symphony is, like, a really great place to go. Everybody, a whole bunch of ethnicities,” Gray said.

Henry Cook was set to transfer this week to this downtown restaurant, but he says it’s too badly damaged to be open.

“I just checked out the damage today, and all the windows are burned. The place is gutted,” Henry Cook, of Indianapolis, said.

Cook told News 8 now he will have to rely more on his second job for the time being, just to try to make ends meet.

“Yeah, it’s definitely hard. I’m struggling to pay my rent right now,” Cook said.

Monday afternoon, IMPD Chief Randal Taylor said the department was working on assessing the amount of damage to downtown businesses.

As the cleanup continues, Gray and Cook hope to get back to work soon, although they’re not sure when.