Home Invasion And Apparent Jewellery Store Heist Led To Lockdown At Oakville Plaza
Posted July 8, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A suspect and possible accomplices are still at large after a violent home invasion and jewellery store heist that prompted authorities to put an Oakville plaza in lockdown for several hours.
Heavily-armed police officers abandoned their search for the bandits at the Old Oakville Market at Trafalgar and Cornwall Roads just before 7am Tuesday following a 12-hour ordeal.
It all started late Monday afternoon when a man, possibly armed, broke into the Burlington home of the manager of Knar Jewellery, tied up the adults in the house, stole the keys to the store and took off in the victims’ Honda Civic.
The man’s wife and seven-month-old baby were also home at the time. The woman reportedly suffered a broken jaw in the attack.
A fellow merchant in the mall spoke with the jewellery store manager John Walker Tuesday morning.
“[He’s doing] really well. Like, well, as well as he can be,” Irvin Chadha of the nearby Designer Optical said. “But, you know, it’s going to be more of a mental process to get over this trauma.”
The two victims managed to free themselves and ran down their street in a panic pleading for someone to call 9-1-1.
Police then spotted the victims’ vehicle outside the plaza around 7pm and began the search for the suspect and possible coconspirators and placed the mall in lockdown. Some customers were kept inside the shops for up to three hours and employees couldn’t leave until midnight.
Tactical units believed the suspect, or suspects, may have climbed into the attics above the stores and they searched those areas, but to no avail.
“We have thoroughly searched [what] turned out to be five business premises including the rooftop areas above and the area in between so we’re confident now that the store owners can return to their businesses and that businesses are safe,” Insp. Ivan Lorkye of Halton Police explained.
The plaza reopened around 7:30am Tuesday.
Police have seized the stolen Honda Civic sweeping it for clues.
In the meantime, police are searching for a suspect described as a tall, thin, white male in his 20s. He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans.
