SEATTLE — Late Saturday night, crews were called to put out a fire inside Taqueria Cantina, a lively and inclusive Belltown eatery known for its popular brunches featuring drag queen performances.
No one was injured, according to the Seattle Fire Department and firefighters got the fire under control.
But the cantina's co-owner Daniel Ceballos believes the fire was intentionally set, and he said, now, he is left wondering why someone would “put it up into flames."
Ceballos said the restaurant was broken into a little more than an hour after it closed Saturday night. He said he watched the surveillance video the next morning.
“It seems they're throwing stuff on the ground," Ceballos said. "It seemed like it was liquid, I'm not sure.”
Staff spent the day and night cleaning up the damage left behind. The air inside the restaurant smelled strongly of burnt residue.
"This wall’s falling apart," Ceballos said. "Most of our shelving here kind of got damaged."
Ceballos said he was both shocked and confused.
"At first I thought it was like a kitchen fire, or I don’t know, something minor," Ceballos said. "Those things always happen right? But then it seemed like it was an intentional job."
But if this was an intentional job, the big question now, is: why?
"They didn't steal anything at all," Ceballos said. "It makes no sense.”
Authorities said the cause of the fire is still under investigation and have not released whether this was arson or a hate crime.
"People are saying, 'Was this a hate crime? What do you think?'" Ceballos said. "I don't know.”
Taqueria Cantina’s been in business on Belltown's 1st Avenue and Cedar Street for seven years.
"I know we've gotten a few threads, a few comments, a few- a few aggressions, a few harassments, for what we do with LGBTQ+. But you know, it doesn't matter, because this is who we are and we're gonna continue to be who we are," Ceballos said.
About 17 of the cantina’s staff members will be out of the job for the next several days, or even weeks, depending on repairs. He added that repair costs and damages are still being assessed.