Two city shopkeepers are left shaken after looking down the barrel of a gun during a brazen daylight robbery on Monday.

One of the employees at Pawn Traders at 1051 McPhillips St. did not return to work due to the stress of the incident.

It’s the latest business to be hit in a retail crime spree that has gripped Winnipeg for months.

“Crime is out of control in this town,” said owner Richard Doering, speaking Wednesday from his office in the pawn shop. “In the last few years, it’s really escalated. You always hear about petty crime, but not this level of violence.”

Security footage captured during the robbery, viewed by Free pressshows four male suspects entering the store around 4:15 p.m. on Memorial Day.

At least two of the robbers were armed. They immediately jumped over the pawn shop counter.

One of the suspects, who was carrying a red backpack and wearing a navy coat with a fur-trimmed hood pulled over his head, pointed a rifle at the male employees.

The other, wearing a white hooded coat and green latex gloves, wielded a machete as he robbed the counter.

The remaining suspects, one wearing a black North Face windbreaker and the other in a red checkered jacket, are also being filmed.

Within two minutes, the thieves were able to break into a safe in the back of the store and steal a large amount of cash and valuables, Doering said.

The Winnipeg Police Service issued a news release about the incident Wednesday, saying investigators are still searching for the suspects, who fled in a vehicle with an undisclosed amount of cash and property before officers arrived.

The businessman, who owns two other pawn shops in Winnipeg, was at his Main Street location at the time of the robbery. He witnessed some of it in real time as he watched remotely from the store’s security cameras, he said.

Doering has been in the pawn shop business for 25 years and said he has largely been able to avoid robberies by taking extra precautions, such as keeping his doors locked at all times and only opening them to legitimate customers.

The thieves bypassed that security measure on Monday, first sending in a person who briefly pretended to be shopping before opening the door for his accomplices, Doering said.

He said he plans to renovate the storefront and install a barrier between the counter and the retail area as an added layer of safety for employees.

Doering said he felt “violated” by the robbery.

“These criminals took out the 7-Elevens, they took out the Giant Tiger … now they’re out of stores to hit,” Doering said.

Both companies recently closed locations in Winnipeg due to rising crime rates.

Two 7-Eleven stores a few blocks away on McPhillips Street at Selkirk and Mountain avenues sit like graffiti-covered husks after closing. last month. Doering said they are a daily reminder of the growing challenges facing city business owners.

“If this had happened to me years ago, I might have been out of business,” he said, lamenting the costs he and other owners must pay to beef up security.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said a recent survey of small business owners in Manitoba found 52 per cent were directly affected by crime and community safety issues such as theft and vandalism this year, compared to 41 per cent in 2023.

Theft reports (of items valued under $5,000) increased 45% in 2023 compared to 2022, according to data from the Winnipeg Police Service.

The trends have prompted police to carry out a months-long crackdown on retail crime in the city’s hotspots.

Attorney General Matt Wiebe confirmed in October, the 12 municipal police graduates – funded by the province – soon joined the campaign, which was made up of officers who had been working overtime since June.

Provincial support for the initiative will continue until at least Dec. 31, and Wiebe suggested it could become a long-term initiative.

“It’s about transitioning to a more permanent solution and a more permanent program,” he said Free press.

Doering said he hopes thieves get the message that retail crime is not victimless.

“Why not get a job and let society be?” he said. “What would your mother think?”

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Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for Free presscity ​​office. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communication program, he has written for Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Weekly Express News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

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