A Denton pizza restaurant has been repeatedly vandalized and threatened by a group of juveniles, with surveillance footage capturing the moment a young teen hurled a large chunk of concrete through the business’s front window.
Jonuzi’s Pizza on Tesley Lane has been dealing with escalating harassment over the past several weeks. Co-owner Dean Romans says the situation has become a serious public safety concern for staff and customers alike.
Romans told authorities the trouble began when a group of teens who were regular customers started panhandling outside the strip mall and demanding free food from neighboring businesses. After Romans politely asked them to stop, the group turned hostile.
The harassment escalated quickly. Surveillance video from a recent Sunday shows teens with their faces covered by T-shirts running past the entrance and throwing napkins inside the restaurant. Romans also reported that the group threw food at one of the restaurant’s delivery drivers.
Things took a dangerous turn on Wednesday when one of the juveniles was caught on camera sprinting through the parking lot and launching a heavy concrete block through the restaurant’s window. Romans said the projectile landed dangerously close to where a customer had been seated moments earlier.
As the group fled the scene they allegedly threatened to return with more people and shoot up the restaurant. A photo shared by the owners appears to show one of the boys making a hand gesture mimicking a firearm.
Denton Police confirmed the case has been assigned to a detective and that all suspects have been identified as juveniles under the age of 16. No arrests have been made yet as the investigation remains active. Denton ISD did not respond to inquiries about whether the teens are enrolled in the district.
Romans said he filed reports with police through the non-emergency line after earlier incidents but felt the situation was not resolved before it spiraled into violence. Plywood now covers the shattered windows of the restaurant.
Despite the chaos the business has seen an unexpected wave of community support after posting about the incident on social media. Customer traffic has increased and several local contractors who specialize in window installation have offered competitive quotes to repair the damage.
Romans expressed more confusion than anger when asked what he would say to the teens responsible. “How did we get here?” he said. “How did you take that much disrespect from anything that we did to lead to this?” He declined to comment on the teens’ parents saying he does not know what kind of home environment they may come from.