People in South Florida were also impacted by the widespread looting across Philadelphia that resulted in the arrests of more than 50 people and an increased police presence throughout the city.
Thousands of miles away in Miami Beach, all John Kim could do was watch the news and scroll through the pictures his mother sent him.
"Oh, I was devastated,” Kim said.
Crowds looted several stores and damaged property across Philadelphia Tuesday night after a peaceful protest, following a judge's decision to drop murder charges against a former police officer who shot and killed a 27-year-old man during a traffic stop last month.
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Kim said one of those stores is his dad's.
"It's all these other small businesses that you don't hear about that are all over the city that might have got destroyed that no one really talks about,” Kim said.
Kim's father has run a small smoke shop in the Frankford neighborhood of Philadelphia for more than 10 years and it's his only source of income. When he saw the damage on the outside of the business and the destruction on the inside, he felt helpless because he was thousands of miles away.
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"Oh my God, my parents, their business, their livelihood,” Kim said.
He said his parents were forced to guard the front of the business Wednesday morning while working on repairs throughout the day.
"My dad's business was already struggling, so this is just another huge obstacle they're going to have to figure out how to overcome,” Kim said.
Kim says it's a familiar image. A few years ago, crowds vandalized and looted his mom's business during protests in Philadelphia.
Kim is now trying to help his family from thousands of miles away. He started a GoFundMe to help pay for the damages.
