A gay bar in Minneapolis that was already suffering the effects of President Trump’s immigration crackdown earlier this year was dealt another setback when thieves made off with the business’s safe early Friday morning in a lightning-fast burglary.
The safe at Lush Lounge & Theater in Northeast Minneapolis contained about a week’s worth of earnings and employee tips, totaling an estimated $3,500. In total, the burglary took about three minutes, co-owner Jared Lawrence told 5 Eyewitness News.
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“I think they knew right where to go. I mean, to be in and out in two to three minutes, and to go behind a locked door, up a flight of stairs — they knew right where to look,” Lawrence said.
Surveillance video revealed three thieves breaking into the bar overnight Thursday, forcing their way upstairs to the office, and making off with the entire safe, in what co-owner Andy Rausch, one of three co-owners with Lawrence, called a targeted crime.
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“It definitely feels targeted, and it does feel like an attack, especially on the heels of our Pride planning right now,” he told Fox 9 News.
After the thieves broke in through a window on the ground floor, the bar’s alarm set off immediately. Lawrence received an alert at about 4:20 a.m.
“It feels kind of like a personal attack as a queer space,” he said. “We’re kind of off the beaten path, and we’re trying to do a lot of good for the community, and then something like this happens.”
Lawrence said the co-owners have been working up plans to turn the Lush Theater & Lounge into an LGBTQ+ nonprofit space.
“What these individuals did is they didn’t just steal from Lush, they stole from the community, and this is a bit of a setback in our goal.”
Video of the crime recorded on the bar’s Nest cameras shows the thieves hunched over, making their way across the ground floor toward the stairs leading to the office. A camera inside the office reveals one thief with a large crowbar walking inside.
Once inside, the thieves can be heard talking before one of them announces, “Guys,” and uses the crowbar to pull the safe out from under a desk. The three struggle to push the safe out of the office and then down the flight of stairs.
From another camera downstairs, the safe can be seen crashing down to the ground floor. Rausch said that caused structural damage to the bar.
The thieves then slide the safe across the cement floor to the front doors and roll it out into the night.
“It’s a setback. It’s not the end of the world,” Rausch said, trying to put the best face on a bad situation. “We will come back stronger than ever.”
But they’re asking the community for help to do it. A friend of the bar has started a GoFundMe page for Lush.
“The owners genuinely want to make a positive difference in the community, and I feel so fortunate to call all three of them my friends,” bar regular Matthew Hudson writes in his appeal.
Referring to ICE’s Operation Metro Surge, which devastated restaurant and bar business in Minneapolis for months, Hudson writes, “We all know Twin Cities bars and restaurants were already in tight financial positions. Now, a recent large financial loss just weeks before Pride month has made things even harder for Lush. This setback doesn’t just hurt the business — it affects the employees and the entire community that relies on this space for connection and celebration.”
“The money raised will help Lush continue business as usual, remain a strong advocate for the queer arts community, and ensure their staff can keep the hours they depend on,” he says.
“I encourage you to give back.”
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