By: Venus Mari Zapedzki
Mystery still surrounds last week’s fire at the Pawn Shop on Hathian Highway, which left the shop closed for several days due to, according to the notice, “Severe Fire Damage”. The shop was, however, reopened for business by the end of the week.
Talking to the Observer, the owner, Brandie Kelly, initially suggested that the fire was started deliberately and that the perpetrators were caught on CCTV. They cannot be identified, though, she said, because they wore disguises. She speculated that they were perhaps drug addicts, who had possibly started the fire after breaking into the shop to steal items.
Ms. Kelly, who has previously been alleged (and admitted – Ed) to have been a gang leader, did not directly respond to the question of whether the fire might have been gang related but continued to insist on the possibility of the fire having been started by drug addicts.
Later, when pressed as to what precautions she was taking to prevent a repetition of the incident, Ms Kelly then suggested that the fire had been caused by an electrical fault.
She refused to allow the Observer to look at the CCTV footage and would not say whether the police had seen it.
When the Observer visited the boarded-up shop previously, on the day following the fire, none of those hanging around the place claimed to have seen anything.
The Observer has made a request to the Hathian police department for a statement about the fire, but we have received no reply.
