Security Guard Stabbed With Screwdriver As Cops Arrest Vehicle Break-in Suspect
Posted December 14, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
On Thursday, we told you about a gang of thieves targeting shoppers leaving their cars in mall or hospital parking lots. The M.O. is always the same: crooks come up to a vehicle filled with Christmas presents, smash the window, grab whatever they can get, and run.
Now less than 24 hours later, police have arrested a suspect in an operation they’re aptly calling “Project Grinch.” The break in the case came Thursday when a security guard eyed a suspicious figure peering into parked cars in a lot at Queen and Yonge. When it appeared he was about to break into one of the vehicles, the guards moved in.
A struggle began as the man resisted all their attempts to subdue him and he managed to reach into his pocket and pull out a screwdriver, which he allegedly used to stab one of the hired officials.
His colleagues eventually overwhelmed him and held him for cops, who took him away to 51 Division. The suspect is a 49-year-old named Michael Vant, who investigators say has no fixed address. He’s facing a number of charges, including theft, assault with a weapon and possession of burglar’s tools. He was in court Friday morning.
The guard is expected to be O.K.
Cops are reminding shoppers and car owners not to let their guard down despite the turn in this case. They believe there have been several organized gangs of thieves at work and many of them are still out there.
Their best advice: if you have to keep what you bought in your car, make sure it’s locked in the trunk where it’s out sight and doesn’t present a tempting target for thieves.
