Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum shared a selfie from outside the Brookside donut shop that was targeted twice in two weeks by criminals who left thousands in damage.
On Saturday, he posted a message to social media saying he felt encouraged to buy a box of “fantastic” donuts after The Donut Hole reopened following an arson.
“I had never tried it before some dirtbag tried to intimidate them, but now I’ll be spending a lot of money there in the future,” Bynum wrote of the allegedly anti-LGBT criminal being sought by authorities.
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An investigation is ongoing, and Tulsa Police have shared surveillance footage showing the arson Oct. 31. Anyone with information is asked to call Tulsa Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.
“Being a resilient business, they quickly made repairs and reopened within a few days,” Bynum said of the shop on Peoria between 33rd and 34th streets.
“Bigotry and violence will not carry the day in Tulsa. In our city, #lovewins.”
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum shared a selfie from outside the Brookside donut shop that was targeted twice in two weeks by criminals who left thousands in damage.
The story below by Kelsy Schlotthauer appeared in the Tuesday, Nov. 1, edition of the Tulsa World.
Brookside donut shop vandalized twice in two weeks: ‘We don’t have any words’
A Brookside donut shop has come under fire — read: Molotov cocktail — after hosting an art installation that featured drag queens as servers.
A hooded and masked figure was recorded on a security camera early Monday using a baseball bat to break the The Donut Hole’s storefront glass before tossing a flaming bottle of fuel inside and running. Shop owners, who did not respond to a request for comment by press time, shared a video of the ordeal to Facebook, saying: “We don’t have any words at this point.”
Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said the investigation is ongoing after it appears an anti-LGBT criminal hoped to intimidate The Donut Hole.
It’s the second time the shop, at 3305 S. Peoria Ave., has been vandalized since it announced a collaboration with Tulsa artist Daniel Gulick, who created an art installation titled “The Queens Dirty Dozens.”
Billed on Instagram as “the most ridiculous donut shop experience you will ever see,” the art installation boasts drag queens as servers of boldly designed doughnut sculptures, which Gulick is selling for $50 a piece.
The Queens Dirty Dozens’ first event, which also served the real shop’s fried dough, drew more than 500 guests to its grand opening on Oct. 15, the shop reported in another Facebook post.
But a break-in soon followed in which the shop’s front door and window were smashed and the register and other electronic equipment were stolen, according to a fundraising page dedicated to the shop.
The burglary and vandalism quickly drew attention and assistance from regulars and their cohorts, including members of a youth soccer team called Rainbow Donuts who painted a donut design over the boarded up windows, the shop wrote online.
Kevin Workman looks through the front door of The Donut Hole in Brookside on Monday. Workman heard about the vandalism at the restaurant and came to see if the owners needed help cleaning up.
A community member set up a GoFundMe fundraising page for the shop’s owner with a goal of $2,500, which donors surpassed in less than an hour, another post says.
Donations began trickling in again Monday afternoon, and by Monday evening, the total raised sat at nearly $8,500.
The shop owners have said any extra raised beyond the cost of repairs will be given to Oklahomans for Equality’s Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, which seeks equal rights for LGBTQ individuals through advocacy, education and programs.
“These malicious acts have resulted in thousands of dollars going towards the cause this entire event was meant to support,” The Donut Hole wrote on Facebook after the first vandalism. “Love wins.”
The shop and artist scheduled another night of drag queens and donuts for this Thursday, with the event meant to be a night of thanks and free fried dough to celebrate the generosity and support of the community, but they announced the event’s cancellation following the second attack, saying “enough is enough.”
Tulsa Fire Department investigators had developed a person of interest in the arson case by Monday afternoon, spokesman Andy Little said, adding that the crime could be charged as a felony that endangered human life, despite the store’s being empty.
“If (someone) intentionally set a fire and we have to respond, they’re causing us to have to go into danger that wouldn’t have normally been there,” Little said of the firefighters.
The fire did minimal damage, Little said, as the incendiary device hit a glass case and fell on nonflammable flooring, but he was unsure how responding firefighters extinguished the flames. The glass was replaced by Monday afternoon.
The vandal also reportedly left a note on a neighboring business that contained Bible verses and hateful rhetoric, Little said, but he could not confirm its contents.
The note raises questions as to whether the crime could be charged federally as a hate crime.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma could not be reached before press time, but the office typically does not discuss specific cases.
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