A Hollywood laundromat owner says he may have to shut down his business or pay for 24-hour security after a violent attack left customers fleeing and his wife injured.
“I’ve never seen my laundromat empty like this,” Varden Kostanian, who runs five Laundry King locations across Los Angeles, told NBCLA. “I have to decide on a different kind of protocol or have security 24 hours, but then that means I’m going to have to go bankrupt paying my security guard. Unbelievable.”
Kostanian said a man began shoving people and struck his wife on Wednesday, throwing her to the ground. A customer called police, and officers quickly arrested the suspect at the scene.
“When I saw the footage, I was devastated,” he said.
Ongoing safety issues in the neighborhood already have him employing a nightly security guard from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m, Kostanian said.
The laundromat is in North Hollywood, where the crime rate is about 36 incidents per 1,000 residents each year. The cost of crime per person is $518 annually — higher than both the national and California state averages, according to Crime Grade.