AUSTIN, Texas – Alan Ramirez ducked under the shattered glass still attached to the front door of his shoe store last Sunday.

"Kinda tough to see a full shoe wall go to an empty shoe wall," Ramirez said. "Full racks to empty racks."

He assessed the damage of his store, Out Hyped, the day after protests turned to riots in downtown Austin and across the country. Protesters called for police reform after the death of George Floyd, another unarmed black man killed in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Out Hyped is located in North Austin, a near 15-minute drive away from the main protests downtown. Ramirez doesn't believe the incident had anything to do with the protests or the issues at hand and that it was just a case of culprits taking advantage of the night's opportunity.

"Kind of like some anger or some kind of frustration— why this had to happen to us," Ramirez said. "We've always been community based, we've always pushed for community."

There's plenty for Ramirez and his employees to be frustrated about. Damages and costs of stolen items will total anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000.  The incident also pushed back the store's grand reopening from being closed because of the pandemic. 

Ramirez isn't letting the looting allow him to lose focus on the issues he advocated for before the damage to his store.

"We want to support the Black Lives Matter cause, we want justice for everybody that's been affected by this," Ramirez said. "We want people to not lose their focus on that because everything here is going to be rebuilt. It's gonna be back up soon."

​Even before the damages, Ramirez used his store's Instagram page, @OutHypedATX ,to highlight charities fighting for police reform and bailing out protesters in Minneapolis and beyond, including the Minnesota Freedom Fund.

Rather than shift the focus the day of the looting, Ramirez posted a picture of some of the damages before redirecting focus right back to the cause, using hastags like #blacklivesmatter and #justiceforgeorgefloyd.

"This past week has been pretty emotionally draining for a lot of people," Ramirez said. "All of those things are completely replaceable but human lives aren’t."

Ramirez and his team have already worked to get things back up and running. He said the incident won't derail his passion for his job or his willingness to fight for social justice.