After Burglar Cleans Them Out, Tattoo Shops Across Country Step In To Help
NORTH HIGHLANDS (CBS13) - A local tattoo shop stripped of its equipment is now bouncing back into business.
JustCry Ink in North Highlands was burglarized sometime Sunday morning. The burglar, or burglars, carved a hole into the side of the business and made off with more than $20,000 in tattoo equipment.
Tattoo shops across the country have been stepping in to help -- they've already donated some equipment and ink so the shop can open back up.
Krysta Kirk is trying to pick up the pieces and move forward after burglars left her and her partner without any tattoo equipment.
"All of our machines, the needles, tubes, grips, inks," she said.
The burglars stole about 200 bottles of ink and more than 30 tattoo machines, putting Krysta and her partner out of work.
"Everything we have worked so hard for was gone in an instant because someone thought it was ok to take from us," she said.
Krysta took to Facebook Live Sunday morning to vent about the incident. She wasn't expecting to get so much support from the tattoo community.
"I wasn't expecting my video to go viral ... I didn't expect the amount of support to pour in," Krysta said. "We had a tattoo shop donate a massive amount of supplies, tattoo needles, and TATsoul came in with machines."
Support for JustCry Ink came from as far as Detroit and Las Vegas.
Krysta says she's doing her best to pull through, but she says she can't help but wonder who would be brazen enough to suck the shop dry.
"They had to know what area to come in. This was the only real entry point if you were to come in through a wall, so it would have to have be someone who has been here or someone who is familiar with the shop," Krysta said.
With the massive hole in the wall now patched up and the donated equipment to get them by, Krysta and her partner say they're ready to get business back up and going again.
"This is my life I don't need to be here, I don't tattoo to live I live to tattoo," Krysta said.
The incident report still has to be submitted to Sacramento County Sheriff's detectives before they begin investigating the burglary.