00:00Fire, destruction, and panic. That's what residents of Rochester woke up to on a Tuesday morning
00:06when the front of Get Ready Comics was found in flames. Following an investigation,
00:12Zygmanta Stransika of No Fixed Address, age 31 and a Lithuanian national, has been charged with
00:18arson. The crime has resulted in costly damages, according to owner Paul Blakeborough.
00:23Well into the thousands. Yeah, this all, the original feature of the building was built in
00:281981, so the door's original feature, and it's like a 10-week build time. The features on the
00:35side, the boxing around the top, the molding, it's all custom, it's all original features to the
00:42building, which is the saddest thing. But we're lucky that it's not one of the buildings from the 1800s
00:47that's been destroyed, so there is, there is a positive. This is what the shop's entrance used
00:52to look like. And this is what it looked like following the flames, believed to have started
00:57when the floral archway outside the door was deliberately set alight. Despite the devastation,
01:03Get Ready Comics is back in business, proving that not even fire can extinguish the community's
01:09support, or its love, for comics.
01:11The outreach and the messages and the community have been amazing. I mean, I don't really, I don't
01:17really notice it too much, but this kind of event has really kind of cemented how much the
01:23community care. And it's really, it's been an emotional few days, without a doubt, for
01:28us to realize that there's so much support and love out there for the shop and the people
01:32that come here. And I got called Spider-Man's dad earlier, so I'm thrilled by that. You know,
01:38this is a community place. A lot of people come here to chat and talk about the things that
01:42they love, so. Ronnie Glastal for KMTV.
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