Rioters try forcing way into bakery, but owner and sons meet them at door with guns — and rioters take their hard day's work elsewhere

Rioters in downtown Cleveland "systematically smashed out windows and looted stores, restaurants, and bars" on Saturday, WJW-TV reported.

But family members who own and run Corbo's Bakery weren't about to let rioters have free rein upon the business they worked hard to build over the years.

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The station said when rioters tried forcing their way into the bakery using bats and other weapons, owner Joe Corbo and his two sons armed themselves with guns, met the rioters at the door, and said — in effect — just try us.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

By and large the protesters kept a move on after seeing the firepower they were up against, but livestreamed video of the incident caught one of the bakery's windows being broken — and that apparently was the extent of the rioters' courageous stand:

Bakery co-owner Selena Corbo told WOIO-TV she supports the protesters' cause but not violence or destruction of property — and that her family had no choice but to protect what's theirs.

"They came at us with bats and threw rocks at our windows, they threw, like, Red Bull cans at our heads and ... rocks, and stones and then I was like, 'Alright,'" she added to the station.

Image source: YouTube screenshot

One man who disagreed with the Corbo family's approach said they cared more about their business than people.

"People ... are so adamant about protecting their business more than they are about protecting lives," he told WOIO, adding that "when protests happen they always talk about 'you can't combat violence with violence,' but they never want to talk about the violence that caused this in the first place."

Image source: YouTube screenshot

Corbo added to WJW that the riots have been "just sickening, I can't even put it into words, it's just awful. I mean I can't even believe it; I thought we were done with that kind of stuff, you know, years and years ago, I thought Cleveland moved forward. I love our town, I think we've all built it up as Clevelanders, and it's a great place to live, and it just got shot down in a matter of a few hours. It was terrible."

Corbo's Bakery owners, armed with shotguns, protect business from protesters in Clevelandyoutu.be