Officers later went into the business and found graffiti including swastikas, “MAGA” and racist terms like “Online Cigarettes Store USA monkey” and the N-word spray-painted on the walls, among other damage.
In a press statement, Cpl. Michele Pihera said a shopping plaza maintenance worker saw someone burglarizing the restaurant late Wednesday evening and called police, adding that the alleged burglar was driving a black Silverado with no license plates. Police pulled over the truck Newport Cigarettes Shop thinking it could be a suspect in the burglary, and saw that Coughman was driving."We're so fortunate that somebody saw something weird, saw something suspicious and called us," Pihera told WSB-TV. "That's when they asked him about it, and he said he's the owner of the business.”
Police searched the back of Coughman’s truck and found several flat-screen TVs that looked strange.
"The TVs were still attached to brackets and damaged drywall,” the department said in a release provided to Yahoo.Officers checked the inside of the restaurant and speculated that the TVs were probably ripped off the wall. They described the paint used on the graffitied walls as being fresh, and claim that when they inspected Coughman's hands, they saw black spray paint.
According to the police department, Coughman contacted his insurance company directly after the incident. “He Cheap Newport 100s cigarettes told officers that he noticed the damage and theft of equipment earlier in the day. He said that he called his insurance company to report the incident, but he did not call 911,” the department said in a release.