Owner Returns To Looted Store

PHILADELPHIA - A North Philadelphia shop owner said he had no words to describe his emotions upon returning from India, where he had attended his mother’s funeral, to discover his store had been looted and vandalized.

Bhupinder Cheema had operated a small convenience store near Germantown Avenue and West Cumberland Street, and had invested thousands of dollars into the business. Over the course of trip to Indian, which lasted several weeks, word spread through the neighborhood that the store had been left unattended.

Police had responded to the store once a window had been found to have been broken, however they were unsuccessful in preventing the store from being ransacked.

In addition to losing his business and mother, Cheema said his father had died several months ago and his wife is battling a brain tumor.

Fox 29’s Sara Madonna spoke with him about his troubles exclusively Saturday.