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Ice cream shop in Bristol vandalized

The community has rallied around Dunphy's Ice Cream, which had to close its doors for a few days after someone broke in and caused extensive damage.

BRISTOL, Conn. — Chaos from wall to wall inside Dunphy's Ice Cream in Bristol. Every drawer and cabinet was ripped open and the contents of them left all over the floor after someone broke in sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

"They went behind the counter took everything out of the cabinets. Just ransacked the whole place, stomped on everything. Broke quite a few things," said Nicole Durand.

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Surveillance video shows someone dressed in all black wearing a ski mask behind the building. The owners discovered the mess Thursday morning and found that whoever was responsible also unplugged every freezer, causing them to lose all of their ice creams and forcing them to close their doors for a couple of days. 

"We did lose all 48 tubs, so those did have to go in the trash," Durand said.

A small family-owned business, it's a hit to their livelihood.

"This is like our second home, I'm here almost more than I am at my house and to come in and just see someone violate all of our things the way they did without a care and just walk out the front door like nothing happened, it was devastating," Durand said.

The community also sees the shop as a second home. Customers stopped by all day to offer their support, one person even donated $500 to help with the cost of repairs.

"I couldn't believe it, who would do such a thing?" said Cathy Rowe of Burlington.

"We were really so surprised that someone would come and destroy this wonderful place. It's a great place," said Sharon Fortunato of Bristol.

The ice cream shop is well known for giving back.

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"Does an awful lot for sports and little league and so forth in Bristol," said Leonard Bachand of Bristol.

Customers are happy to pay that kindness forward when the shop can reopen again.

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"Oh yeah, we'll be here, we'll be back," Rowe said.

Dunphy's hopes to be back open this weekend. 

Gaby Molina is a reporter and anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at mmolina@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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