Tattoo shop gets support after vandalism

By Connor McCarthy

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    PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — The business community in southeast Portland is rallying behind a tattoo shop that was hit with vandalism for the third time this year.

James Eakin owns East Side Tattoo on Southeast Foster Road. He said earlier in October, someone threw a rock and a brick at his business. The two shattered windows and a glass pane on the front door. Eakin said between this incident and two others this year, it will cost him around $20,000.

“It’s exhausting. It’s mentally draining,” Eakin said. “He just broke the windows, and he didn’t even try to get into the building. It was just purely destruction.”

To help cover the costs of the damage, Eakin held a fundraiser and created a GoFundMe. On Friday, dozens of people from around Portland lined up outside of his shop to get a tattoo in support.

“I had a bunch of people from Beaverton and Vancouver who didn’t even know us but saw our stuff on social media,” Eakin said. “They showed up, participated, supported and were awesome.”

Eakin was able to raise about $9,000. He said other businesses on the street have been hit with similar crimes.

“It’s just all over the place and people are frustrated,” Eakin said. “We don’t know what to do and how to protect ourselves.”

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