At the place where 'get mad' is the motto, this is not what they meant.

Mad Priest Coffee Shop is looking for the person responsible for breaking through its front door, breaking its bar, and stealing its cash register on Friday night into Saturday morning.

"It seemed like all they wanted was petty cash," said Cory Bys, the barista who opened the store Saturday and found the damage. "They actually couldn't figure out how to open the register."

The front door was shattered; they boarded it up by Monday morning and replaced it by Monday afternoon.

But their cash register was gone, along with the $300 inside.

"Our biggest worry was 'Is our equipment okay?'" said Bys. "Thankfully, our espresso machine and everything was untouched."

That allowed the business to open almost normally just a few hours after the break-in. They boarded up the door and set up a temporary bar.

It would have been almost normal if it wasn't for the sense of safety that was gone.

"Since it was such a big window between closing and opening and also it was just a random thing, I don't know how much hope there is in finding somebody like that," said Bys.

The store's security camera didn't end up recording a thing. When the suspect destroyed the bar, they also unplugged the WiFi router, meaning the video didn't save to the cloud.

But at the place where 'get mad' is the motto, the owners and baristas aren't getting mad at all. Instead, they're hoping the person responsible can find their way.

"It's hard to pass judgment on somebody when you don't know them or their situation," said Bys. "It's definitely frustrating and upsetting, but it is part of doing business."

Reporter

Liam joined the Local 3 News team as a reporter in July of 2021. Before coming to the Tennessee Valley, Liam spent five years living around North Carolina. Most recently, he worked in Jacksonville, North Carolina as a reporter for NBC Affiliate WITN News.

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