The Soldotna Police Department is investigating an incident of vandalism that occurred at a Soldotna business early Monday morning.
At Ammo-Can Coffee, a conservative social club and coffee shop, security camera footage shared by owner Jason Floyd shows a masked individual gluing the locks shut and spray-painting the word “TRAITORS” across the club’s windows at around 1 a.m. Monday. Floyd said Tuesday that vandalism caused damages to the building. The business is located near the intersection of the Kenai Spur Highway and Marydale Avenue in Soldotna.
Floyd said Ammo-Can Coffee has experienced incidents of public opposition since it reorganized as a private club in 2021. Per Ammo-Can’s website, club membership is free to anyone who supports the club’s stated mission of celebrating and promoting contemporary conservative culture and the “Judeo-Christian foundations” of the United States.
Floyd said footage from Ammo-Can’s security cameras show an individual wearing a beanie, hood and full face mask approaching the storefront at around 1 a.m. on Aug. 8. The footage shows the person walking around in front of the building and then super gluing shut the door’s two locks. The person then steps away to take a call, before returning to spray-paint the word “TRAITORS” across the front windows.
Floyd, who also serves as the communications director for gubernatorial candidate Chris Kurka, said he’s experienced in-person confrontations with people who oppose Ammo-Can’s political stances, such as the club’s affiliation with Kurka and anti-abortion stance.
“It’s just sad,” Floyd said. “We’re supposed to be able to get in a space where we can have public discourse.”
When asked whether or not he thought the vandalism was related to his affiliation with the Kurka campaign, Floyd said “it could.”
The Kurka for Governor campaign in a Monday press release condemned the vandalism at Ammo-Can Coffee, which the campaign said is Kurka’s “Kenai Peninsula campaign headquarters.” Floyd said that while he is the campaign’s communications director, he did not write the Monday press release because the incident occurred at his personal business.
“This assault on Jason’s property is also an assault on our campaign as his shop houses our Kenai Peninsula campaign Headquarters,” Kurka is quoted as saying in the press release. “The Left and our opponents may think they will silence us and our supporters, but they’re wrong.”
Lt. Duane Kant with the Soldotna Police Department confirmed Tuesday that the department is investigating the vandalism and said the investigation is “active.”
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
