Popular bar vandalized by a stranger: Its owners now trying to turn a negative into a positive

MILWAUKEE -- A popular tavern has been vandalized by a stranger. Surveillance video shows a man busting the windows with a metal rod -- before fleeing the scene. The tavern's owners are dumbfounded by it all, but they're trying to turn something negative into something positive.

It happened at a bar in Bronzville -- near Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Center Street. It's a tavern that's popular at night.

"The customers love us. We love the customers," Thomas Holmes II said.

"It`s a hard pill to swallow," Thomas Holmes said.

The incident happened in broad daylight on Sunday afternoon, November 15th, while the Lux Tavern was closed.

Surveillance cameras from a neighboring business captured the incident.

"We saw a man walking from the north with a stick in his hand," Thomas Holmes said.

"He came in and was just looking around," Thomas Holmes II.

"Hit one window at a time," Thomas Holmes said.

The suspect busted three picture windows, and then ran away.

The bar's owners say they've never seen him before.

"It`s just beyond our understanding as to why something like this would happen," Thomas Holmes said.

Rather than getting angry, the bar's owners decided on a different approach.

"It just says `Join Lux in stopping the violence and support Milwaukee businesses,'" Thomas Holmes II said.

That message is displayed on a billboard put up in place of the busted picture windows -- asking that those who pass by do what they can to put a stop to crime in Milwaukee.

"It needs to stop," Thomas Holmes said.

"I think we`ve been able to turn a negative situation into a positive," Thomas Holmes II said.

Police are investigating this incident. They say they've never had any problems with this particular tavern.

Meanwhile, a $500 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest in this case.

If you have information that could help police, you're asked to give them a call.