Residents of Federal Hill were greeted with a disheartening sight as the local favorite, Moo Moo Cows ice cream shop, shuttered its doors due to vandalism for the second time in a fortnight. Early yesterday morning, security footage revealed three men hurling rocks and bricks at the storefront windows of Moo Moo Cows, causing significant visual and structural damage to the establishment on Light Street.
William Runnebaum, co-owner of Moo Moo Cows, woke to the chaos captured on video, stating, "I woke up this morning, looked at the videotape of the front windows of the shop, and saw that they had been smashed again," in a statement obtained by CBS News Baltimore. The previous incident, Runnebaum noted, occurred just before midnight on July 30, involving two men and resulting in a rock thrown with enough force to damage the interior ice cream case.
The cost of this series of attacks is not trivial, with damages mounting upwards of $10,000. Both owners, Runnebaum and Bill Mangham, expressed their despair over the situation, with Runnebaum musing, "It feels like this was a specific attack on our business. It's very disheartening, it's heartbreaking to us," as per a CBS News Baltimore report. The community echoes this sentiment, with one resident, Bonnie, summing up the sentiment: "They are the nicest gentlemen who would do anything for the community. They have a wonderful product, they try so hard, and this is really unfair."
The local community has rallied around the shop, expressing solidarity and support for the owners and their team. "The two of them are amazing and really have a beautiful space for everybody in the community here in South Baltimore," Emily King, a repeat customer, told WMAR-2 News. The attacks also have broader implications, affecting not just the owners but also the staff, who rely on the establishment for their livelihood. In an emotional interview, Runnebaum relayed how the vandalism impacts their employees: "It's the employee that's here who's trying to earn enough money to get an electric bike so that he doesn't have to ride the bus to come down here to scoop ice cream and we hate it for him."
