Volunteers turned out in droves Monday to help clean up from a night of violence that left shattered glass, boarded up windows and graffiti along swaths of downtown Aurora, and business owners feared the looting might leave lasting effects on the city’s downtown.
The city cautiously looked to move forward, even as police closed downtown streets and advised businesses near the Fox Valley Mall to close, warning of the possibility of additional unrest. Mayor Richard Irvin announced a state of emergency would continue and Aurora would again be under curfew from 8:30 p.m. Monday through 6 a.m. Tuesday, and entrances to the city from I-88 were closed.
The Fox Valley Mall, shut down since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remained closed, though it had been set to open Monday.
Monday morning, volunteers swept broken glass and nailed plywood to shattered windows along Broadway, one of the entrances to the downtown that city officials have said was on the cusp of a long-sought revitalization before the COVID-19 pandemic forced stores and restaurants to close.
Scattered throughout the rest of downtown and the city were other businesses that bore the marks of Sunday night’s violence, including a boarded up McDonald’s along East New York Street and nearby a burned out Family Dollar.
One of them was Rosie Alvarez’s martial arts studio on Broadway, where the front window had been shattered. She was grateful for the volunteers and the plywood donated to board up her window, she said. But she felt violence the night before set back the entire community.
“Aurora wants to have businesses, they want to have people moving, they want to have people active,” she said. “How can you have people active with all this?”
Sunday’s looting and unrest came amid fallout from the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Largely peaceful protests earlier in the day turned tense Sunday evening near downtown. People hurled water bottles and launched fireworks, and police appeared to use pepper spray and fire rubber bullets late in the evening.
Three squad cars were destroyed by fire, windows were smashed in city businesses and looting ensued. People pulled up in front of a jewelry store, went inside through a broken window and returned with trays of necklaces.
Police used tear gas to break up the crowd downtown both before and after a curfew took effect. Protesters were seen crying with stinging eyes, using milk to alleviate the pain, and a reporter felt the sting of the gas in the air.
“We have a duty to protect the peaceful protesters from the violent actors,” Police Chief Kristen Ziman said Monday. “And we attempted to do just that.”
Later in the night, a large fire burned at the Family Dollar store on East New York Street. Aurora Fire Chief Gary Krienitz said it was arson.
In all, Irvin estimated $3 million in damage was done to the city.
Earlier Sunday afternoon, hundreds of people gathered outside the Aurora Police Department then marched through city streets, condemning Floyd’s death and airing grievances toward police.
Floyd, a black man, died May 25 after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, was captured on video pinning down Floyd by his neck.
Chauvin and three other officers were fired, and Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Floyd’s death has sparked national outrage and led to protests and looting in cities across the country. Rallies and marches took place throughout the weekend in various suburbs, and protests in Chicago turned violent.
In Aurora, The Illinois National Guard provided aerial support Sunday night and was on standby in case the situation worsened, Irvin said. The guard remained on standby Monday, he said.
Seventeen people had been arrested by noon Monday, Ziman said. Police had responded to 65 criminal damage reports by Monday morning, she said.
Ziman welcomed protesters to the Aurora Police Department Sunday afternoon, though she and Irvin have sought to characterize those who looted and clashed with police at night as outsiders. Ziman said Monday afternoon she did not know where those who were arrested lived.
The Kane County state’s attorney’s office said felony charges were filed against three people in connection with the unrest in Aurora. Two people were from the northwest suburbs and one from Aurora.
The man who organized the initial protest, Andy Williams, said he understood people’s frustrations, but he didn’t support the damage done to the city’s downtown. He called on the city to meet with protesters and said he and others were working on a list of demands for police.
“I still love Aurora and I’m not going to stop loving it because some people went downtown,” Williams said. “I can’t speak to who they were. But it shows the frustration, anger and systemic oppression that has been brewing, and it didn’t start yesterday.”
Some of those who protested earlier in the day Sunday were helping clean up Monday morning, as passersby in cars honked and yelled their gratitude out the window. Volunteers brought donuts, water, coffee and chicken sandwiches.
Elsewhere downtown, some businesses had signs in the windows reading “stop police brutality.”
Sania Henry said she was at the protest Sunday from the beginning until the 8:30 p.m. curfew took effect. She felt it would be wrong not to protest, and was angry with police, she said.
“My life matters,” she said. “And the people in my community, their lives matter.”
But she didn’t condone the looting and violence, she said, calling it “inhumane.”
“I’m all for looting, but not for small businesses,” she said. “And these are black and latinx owned.”
Another group of men cleaning included Michael Turner, who also said he attended the protest but left downtown before the fires and chaos began. Many of the businesses that were looted along Broadway were small and minority owned,” he said.
“To go around and destroy what you’re actually fighting for?” he questioned.
For the owners and employees at downtown businesses – both those that were looted and those that weren’t – Sunday night’s violence fill them with uncertainty about the future.
Irvin acknowledged the violence could be a blow to the momentum downtown.
“I won’t lie to tell you it doesn’t affect it, doesn’t set us back,” he said. “But we’re going to work even harder, even stronger to make sure that we continue to be successful and stay on that path.”
Michael Menias and Dave Darwish, co-owners of Happy Daze smoke shop, said they weren’t sure they’d be able to reopen after the damage their store sustained. The front windows were broken, and they said the store had lost more than $200,000 worth of items.
“This has done nothing for anyone, the community, the business owners,” they said.
The Diaz family, which owns Balderas Beauty Salon on Broadway, stood outside their shop protesting earlier in the evening, said Laura Diaz. They left before the curfew took effect, as they became worried about looting.
Their shop was not damaged. Signs in the windows showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement and read “Aurora Strong” and “Latinx owned business.”
“We do believe, coming from brown individuals ourselves, people of color, our system is broken,” Laura Diaz said. “Our system needs to be fixed. People need to be heard.”
The most important thing now, though, was to come together as a community and determine the needs of businesses, she said.
Kristina Young, brand manager at All Spoked Up bike shop, which was not vandalized, said she thought downtown had finally reached a tipping point in a positive direction earlier this year. The opening of the new downtown restaurant Stolp Island Social would encourage people to invest in Aurora and get the ball rolling, she said.
“What happened yesterday was just a big blow,” she said.
Gary and Susan Brown, who own an art gallery between the Water Street Mall and Broadway, said they were heartbroken about the violence downtown. Their shop was not harmed.
But it did take a blow during the COVID-19 shutdown, Gary Brown said. Still, they, like Young, were optimistic downtown would bounce back.
“I believe that Aurora, the businesses down here and the people down here, will not let this be a setback,” Susan Brown said.
Beacon-News reporter Megan Jones contributed
