Halle Berry urges fans to help immigrant shop owner whose store was looted, plus more news

The majority of protests that have taken place since George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 have been peaceful. But as Halle Berry‘s posts about an elderly store owner on Monday, June 2, reminded fans, demonstrations have in some cases been accompanied by looting, to the detriment of community members and businesses. “An 81 year old immigrant father and business owner, Ned Harounian, had his Melrose shop looted and burned to the ground over the weekend,” Halle posted on Instagram (via the Daily Mail). “He immigrated in 1985 and for 30 years he put his life into his business and community … His recently deceased wife’s jewelry was also stolen,” she continued, before making a plea to her fans and followers. “Los Angeles — I know thing are crazy right now,” she wrote, “but I hope we can all take a minute to help this man out!!” The actress included a link to a GoFundMe set up for the shop owner by his son. She posted much of the same on Twitter, pausing to respond to a handful of commenters, one of whom called the situation “heartbreaking” and wrote, “These thugs doing this must be stopped and let the people protesting peacefully, do their thing!” Halle replied: “Please do not use the word thugs here. I will not tolerate it. I stand in solidarity with all who protested this weekend.” A second commenter said they hoped the man’s “insurance will cover” the loss. “According to his son, insurance is not covering the damages caused by the riot,” the actress responded. Floyd, an unarmed, 46-year-old black man, died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as three other officers stood by. All four officers were fired; Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.