71-Year-Old Kenosha Man Brutally Beaten While Trying To Defend Business
A 71-year-old man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has become one of the faces of the destruction caused by the riots there. He was brutally beaten and got his jaw broken — all because he wanted to defend friend’s business.
According to the Kenosha News, Robert Cobb, a 71-year-old man who is a close friend of one of the owners of The Mattress Shop in downtown Kenosha, responded to the scene Monday when he saw looters attacking the area on television as part of the protests over the shooting of Jacob Blake the day before.
In a video that’s gone viral for all of the wrong reasons, the 71-year-old tries to get rioters to leave the mattress shop by spraying them with a fire extinguisher.
That, obviously, didn’t work.
“He sprayed them in the face so they had to take their masks off for identification,” shop owner Pamela “Sue” Moniz told the Kenosha News. She told the newspaper that Cobb started as a customer “years and years ago” and has since become her emergency contact.
“Someone pulled a gun and another person yelled, ‘Don’t shoot this man, don’t shoot this man,’” she said.
The video shows Cobb being hit in the head with a plastic bottle — a bottle filled with concrete.
In the video, the man can be seen being helped as he falls to the ground, bleeding profusely.
“We don’t want him to drown,” one of the women says. “We don’t want him to drown on his blood.”
“I’m so grateful for the people who took care of him on the sidewalk,” Moniz told the Kenosha News. “We got him in the truck and had to drive through a mass of people, onto sidewalks, to get him to the hospital.”
Part of the attack can be seen here. Note: The tweet incorrectly identifies Cobb as the owner of the business he was defending. Also, be warned, the video contains violence and graphic language some viewers will find offensive.
Top story: @after_theaction: ‘Looters assault an older business owner trying to defend his business in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 24, 2020. ‘ pic.twitter.com/OrA0Br0sSE, see more https://t.co/cqW3W2OGQl
— swh71 (@swh71) August 25, 2020
A longer version of the video can be seen in a Facebook video here. (Same warning applies.)
TheBlaze TV’s Elijah Riot covered the aftermath of the attack:
SHOCKING: #BLM & Antifa rioters brutally assaulted a 70 year old man
For trying to put out a fire in his mattress store
He received a broken jaw, black eye, and multiple stitches
The remains of the building he tried to save, now rubble, can be seen in the background #kenosha pic.twitter.com/HbcatRHy3S
— ELIJAH RIOT (@ElijahSchaffer) August 25, 2020
It’s worth noting that we don’t know whether either of these individuals were actually aligned with Black Lives Matter or antifa, as the tweet states.
All we know is that they were part of the riots that consumed the Wisconsin city in the aftermath of Blake’s shooting.
In addition to the broken jaw, Cobb also received lacerations to his head and a split nose.
63rd Street in #Kenosha. The owner of a mattress shop tells me her employee was hurt while trying to protect the building overnight. pic.twitter.com/HIGc4av49O
— Aaron Maybin (@Aaron_Maybin) August 25, 2020
“I absolutely cry every time I talk about it because this man did this for me,” Moniz told the Kenosha News. “He did it because that is the kind of person he is. He is so giving, so selfless.”
She also told the newspaper she arrived seconds after Cobb was attacked, and had to watch the whole thing play out on video stream.
Unfortunately, the mattress shop will have to be moved — which friends of the owners have set up a GoFundMe page for.
Moniz said the first concern will be paying off Robert Cobb’s medical bills, however.
“If there is anything left over, that is what we will use to rebuild,” Pamela said. “He absolutely comes first.”
“Monday August 24, 2020 protesters and looters set fire to Sue and Keith’s magical mattress shop in Kenosha, WI. The building and all contents are completely destroyed. Our dear friend Robert was onsite and tried to stop the fire,” wrote the GoFundMe page organizer, identified as Yvonne Rich.
“I have seen these three folks help neighborhood people for years with money, food, mattresses when no one could afford to pay. They have served the Kenosha community selflessly and so didn’t deserve this horrible attack. I have known this wonderful folks for years. They are honest, hard working and honorable people. Please give if you can and please please share.”
This is the face, sadly, of the rioting in Kenosha.
Yes, rioters and their apologists claim it’s just property. Except when it isn’t, and except when someone tries to defend that property. This is a man who could have been killed for the mere act of defending a mattress store — and now the business is gone and he’s been injured.
“Is there words for it?” Moniz’s husband, Keith McCoy, told WITI-TV. “The picture should say it all.”
The pictures do. This isn’t protesting. This is pure evil, and those responsible need to be held accountable.
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