On Feb. 16, shortly after 11 p.m., an unidentified man and woman passed in front of Heartbreak Coffee on the Square. Security footage shows the man punching through the front window before continuing to walk down Lamar with the woman close behind.
The incident is currently under investigation by the Oxford Police Department.
Security footage from Heartbreak Coffee and the street outside show the man wearing light, possibly khaki, pants, a white shirt and carrying a dark jacket. His hand today would be visibly injured. The woman was wearing black pants and white shirt.
Gretchen Williams, owner of Heartbreak Coffee, expressed her desire to identify the man not only for the benefit of her business, but also for the protection of the mental and physical health of himself and the woman.
“My concern goes beyond the destruction of our business and property, but if someone is volatile at 10 p.m. in public, I worry about the girl he was with, and it’s clearly something that needs to be addressed,” Williams said.
Williams and her team at Heartbreak Coffee originally believed the event happened at 10:02 p.m., but further analysis of footage showed their cameras may have been off by an hour. The event most likely occurred around 11 p.m.
According to Williams, the store manager arrived at 6:00 a.m. the following morning and discovered the debris. The hole in the window had been covered with pizza boxes. Williams expressed her gratitude for the stranger who covered the window.
OPD was contacted and arrived the same morning to check the camera footage. Williams and the OPD are working with surrounding stores and the building manager to identify the suspect.
That morning around 8 a.m., the Heartbreak Coffee Instagram shared a picture of the wreckage and camera footage showing the incident and the man and woman involved. Part of the caption read, “If anyone has any information on who this male was please let us or OPD know.”
Breck Jones, public information officer of OPD, confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation.
“As of now, it’s currently under investigation. We don’t have any further comments at this time,” Jones said.