Increased crime at the Edmonds Dairy Queen during the past two years has been a challenge for owner Ali Virani.

The Dairy Queen, also known as DQ, is located at the corner of 212th Street Southwest and 76th Avenue West, east of Edmonds-Woodway High School. It has been in the city for 22 years, and Virani has owned it for the last eight. However, since 2023, Virani said that vandals have broken half a dozen windows, a thief shattered the drive-thru window and stole the register, and a garbage can was used as a battering ram on the front door while an employee was finishing their closing duties.

The employee locked themself in the office and called 911.

Virani showed My Edmonds News the security footage with audio of the 2023 break-in. The loud crash of glass and metal can be heard as the can is hurled through the door. The lights behind the person made it so one could only make out the silhouette of a large individual standing in the middle of the wrecked door frame, just standing there, waiting, as if it were a scene from a horror movie. The suspect was arrested by Edmonds police and booked into jail.

Virani said the trend worries him and, at one point, made him question maybe there was something more to the vandalism and theft

“How can I assure my employees that they are safe?” Virani asked. “Is my store being targeted for some reason? Am I?”

The damages are taking their toll. Except for the door, none of the damages are of enough value to make an insurance claim, but $2,000 a window adds up, and Virani has had to replace six so far.

“I hire a lot of people in their late teens and early 20s working their way through school,” Virani said. “For some, this is their first job.”

The damages coming out of pocket have a more profound impact. So far, Virani has spent enough to hire another employee for a year.

Recently, the store was vandalized three times by a man who said he heard voices that led him to target the Dairy Queen.

Edmonds police spokesperson Cmdr. Josh McClure said that police were dispatched to the Dairy Queen to investigate an alarm call at 1:22 a.m. on March 26. When the officers arrived, they found one of the restaurant’s windows had been broken with a rock.

“This was the third call like this that we have responded to in the last several weeks, and reports were taken in those two incidents as well,” McClure said.

A man was observed throwing a rock into some nearby bushes and was contacted by the officers. He admitted to breaking the window that night and having done so twice before.

McClure said that officers had encountered the man on other calls for service in the area during the last several weeks, and the suspect showed signs of behavioral health issues.

The suspect was booked into jail on three counts of second-degree malicious mischief, one for each of three separate incidents.

McClure said that the area is frequently patrolled by police, given its location to the main arterials of 212th Street Southwest and 76th Avenue West and its proximity to city resources.

Virani said he doesn’t want to add bars to his windows and doors; he feels they would give the wrong impression of his restaurant and make his employees and customers feel like they are in a cage. He has opted for polycarbonate shields, which will cost about $5,000 for all windows and doors.

“What do you think when someone says Edmonds?” Virani asked.“Not this; you think of a beautiful city, the waterfront and a great community,” Virani said. “This isn’t Edmonds; I don’t know what this is.”