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Police are looking for five culprits who robbed a jewelry store inside the Pen Centre shopping mall in St. Catharines on Thursday. (Photo: Niagara Regional Police)
Five culprits who robbed a jewelry store inside a busy St. Catharines shopping mall on Thursday and then pepper sprayed two bystanders who tried to stop them from fleeing are being sought by police.
The robbery took place around 1 p.m. when the bandits, all wearing hooded sweatshirts, entered Griffin Jewellery at the Pen Centre on Glendale Avenue and used a small sledgehammer to smash several display cases, Niagara Regional Police said in a news release issued Thursday night.
“The suspects proceeded to remove jewelry from the cases and place it into bags they were carrying,” police said of the incident, which forced the lunchtime evacuation of the popular Niagara region mall.
Not all shoppers left the mall, though, as a “small number of witnesses” chose instead to try stop the bandits from getting away.
“A small number of witnesses attempted to intervene, which prompted the suspects to flee the area with a small number of witnesses in pursuit,” police said. “One witness collided with a mall column and two other witnesses were sprayed with an irritant similar to pepper spray.”
St. Catharines Detectives Investigating Robbery at Pen Centrehttps://t.co/vhrg8ONNts pic.twitter.com/xRyO9MB9tF
— NRPS (@NiagRegPolice) January 17, 2025
Police said the bystander who ran into the concrete column was taken to hospital with minor injuries. The two who were pepper sprayed were treated at the scene.
The culprits fled the mall via an east exit into a waiting getaway vehicle described as a silver Honda CRV. The licence plate marker was provided to police, but investigators determined the plate was registered to another vehicle.
The CRV was last seen speeding away toward Chestnut Street West, police said.
Four of the robbers wore black hooded sweatshirts, one with white lettering across the front, police said. The fifth was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.
All wore black pants, except for one whose pants were described as forest green in colour. Three of the bandits wore masks.
The culprits also carried two black duffel bags and a green bag, according to investigators.
Police are seeking help from the public in tracking down the culprits.
Any other witnesses or anyone with video footage is asked to call police at 905-688-4111, dial option 3, ext 1009703. Calls can also be made to Crime Stoppers of Niagara anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
Two photos above show the five culprits fleeing the scene after the robbery toward a waiting getaway vehicle described as a silver Honda CRV. (Photos: Niagara Regional Police)
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