Fayetteville salon owner says irate customer attacked her, shot up home, burned business

Firefighters responded to the A & V Dominican Salon, at 5352 Yadkin Road, at about 5 a.m. Sunday and found flames coming from the front of the business.

Damage to the salon was estimated at $50,000, according to a Fayetteville Fire Department report. Neighboring businesses in the shopping center sustained smoke damage.

Salon owner Maria Reyes said she believes the fire is related to problems she had with a customer last week.

The customer refused to pay for services on Friday night after Reyes told her to get out from under the hair dryer so she could close up the shop.

"[She] had like on the dryer for like one hour, so it supposed to be you get out and let me finish my job," Reyes said Monday. "She say, 'No, I no get out. I need 10 minutes more.' So I give [her] 10 minutes more. She told me the same, she told me, 'No, I want 10 minutes more.'"

The argument became physical, Reyes said, as the customer and her daughter choked Reyes and hit her over her left eye.

"The client [was] like jumping me," she said, noting that her own daughter jumped in to defend her. "After that, she told me, 'Oh, you die. Watch, you die.'"

Reyes said she kicked the customer and her daughter out of the salon, locked the door and called police.

Police said Reyes and the customer both filed assault complaints against the other, but no charges had been filed as of Monday.

At about 3 a.m. Saturday, she said, someone shot at her house in Hoke County, but no one was hurt. The home has bullet holes in the front door, windows and garage, and she found several bullet casings outside the home.

"The bullet came through the front door into the dining room," she said. "You can see where it exited right here in the kitchen, and then, from there, it went over and almost out into the backyard."

Reyes said she believes an iron stool found outside the salon was used to break the window and get inside to start the fire.

She said she plans to reopen the salon, but she is more concerned about her family's safety than the future of her business.