Atlanta nonprofit vandalized, ransacked

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The search is on to find people who threw a rock through an Atlanta nonprofit's window and ransacked its office.

Tierra Gates is at a loss for words. She told FOX 5's Patty Pan that she's been serving this community for more than a year now with her nonprofit organization on Joseph E. Boone Boulevard.

For someone to vandalize it breaks her heart.

"Basically I was really really heartbroken, I was so heartbroken because I do so much for the community," Gates said. "I try to help everybody."

She said when she first saw surveillance video given to FOX 5 from a neighboring business it made her sick.

In the video, you can clearly see some women walking out of a convenience story next to Kiddo's Closet Corp. The women walk into the parking lot, one bends over, picks up something, turns around to face the strip mall, and throws whatever is in her hand.

Gates says that rock is what came through her front door, smashing her glass.

"I was just devastated and heartbroken and in disbelief about what I was seeing," she said.

The incident happened in broad daylight around 5 Thursday afternoon. Gates showed up shortly after to find glass everywhere. Someone even ransacked the place.

"I really take pride in what I do and I really care about this community. I really love this community. I love people," she said. "And I'm hurt because I don't have funds to replace this window, you know, right now being a nonprofit."

Gates says she has provided what she could for this community, giving free things to the children and selling gently used items at a drastically discounted price.

She and her business manager Kareem Caine tell FOX 5 it's unclear what the intent was, but both agree if this was meant to be funny, it's anything but.

"Come forward. All we have is this tiny rock, and we just want to link the person to this rock," Caine said. "Come forward if you have a heart. That's all we ask."

Atlanta Police are now investigating the vandalism with the surveillance video.

As for Gates, she says with no insurance she's not sure how she's going to make the repairs.

If you want to help Gates and Kiddo's Closet Corp., she's created a GoFundMe to help raise money for repairs.