Ottawa Police Investigate After Shoppers Store Robbed While Customers Present

A Ottawa Police Service (OPS) patch is seen in Ottawa, on Sept. 29, 2024. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

Ottawa Police say they are looking for suspects after a Shoppers Drug Mart in that city was robbed.

Police said they were called to the store at the 3100 block of Strandherd Drive for a theft in progress around 10:45 p.m. on March 17.

Upon arrival, all of the suspects had fled the area, police said in a March 19 post on the X platform.

Video of the robbery has been posted on social media, showing three suspects filling bags with items from the store, with no one intervening to stop them.

In the video, three individuals dressed in black, with their faces covered, are seen filling bags and a large blue garbage bin with items from the store.

Several bystanders watch the robbery but no one intervenes.

One of the suspects walks out with the large blue garbage bin, going across the front of the store near the parking lot while bystanders watch.

The two other suspects continue filling their bags with items from the store.

The three are then seen in the video getting into a dark coloured SUV, which drives away.

“The investigation is continuing by the West Criminal Investigations Section,” Ottawa Police said in the social media post.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact police at 613-236-1222 ext: 2666 or email [email protected].

The video of the incident was shared by Conservative Party of Canada candidate Barbara Bel, who is running in the riding where the incident took place.

“Last night’s violent smash and grab at Shoppers on Woodroffe/Strandherd is a a shocking display of the rising crime that has become far too common after 10 years of Liberal soft-on-crime policies,” she wrote in a March 18 post on X.

Bel said “enough is enough,” adding that a Conservative government would stop crime.

Brockville Shoppers Robbed Twice

The incident follows other drug store robberies, with one location being robbed twice in two weeks.

Brockville police say they responded to alarms at a Shoppers Drug Mart on Parkedale Ave. around 4:15 a.m. March 16.

An investigation revealed that two suspects had broken a window to get into the store. They then put “large quantities” of high end fragrances into bags, police said.

The duo then escaped in a white BMW, according to Brockville police.

It took the suspects less than two minutes to get all the items, the police website said.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact Brockville Police at 613-342-0127 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

A similar break and enter happened at the same store on March 2, police say.

During that incident, two suspects used a hammer to break the window of the store and then stole two cabinets with high end perfume worth about $40,000, police said.