RCMP kept hopping from rash of downtown vandalism and break ins

The Prince Rupert RCMP have had a busy couple of evenings over the last few days, as a string of break ins have left broken windows at a number of local establishments and resulted in stolen stock from the local Movie Gallery, which reported $2,000 worth of merchandise stolen during the incident.

The vandals/thieves hit the Coast Beer and Wine store, Something Special, Loaded Sports and the Movie Gallery in the most recent spree. Downtown visitors will also be noting that huge amount of wood taking up space in what used to be the windows to the Subway restaurant, which seems to have become a target of late with a number of incidents taking place there.

Other downtown buildings have suffered from vandals in recent weeks as well, making for a busy time for the local glass window shops and adding to the file list of the local RCMP. They are looking for assistance from the public on those incidents and any others that may have happened in recent weeks, they ask the public to contact them at 627-0700 or by contacting the Crimestoppers program at 627-8477.

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This sudden spurt of crime, not to mention the recently discovered grow ops in the downtown core might make for some interesting talking points for the next City Council meeting that should take place next week, considering how City Hall is fairly close to the bulk of the action.

The most recent events of downtown mayhem were detailed in Tuesday's Daily News.

Downtown stores get hit by rash of break-ins
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Page three

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A string of break-ins to downtown businesses during recent days has police asking for the public's assistance in locating possible suspects.

Sometime between 3:30 and 4 a.m. on Monday, April 7, three businesses in downtown Prince Rupert had windows broken, and at least one was robbed of thousands of dollars in merchandise.
A window at the Coast Beer & Wine store located at 106 Sixth Street was smashed, but nothing was stolen from inside the business. The glass 'Exit' door of the Movie Gallery at 101 First Avenue East was broken and the suspect(s) stole some $2,000-worth of merchandise from the video game section of the store.

During the same half-hour time frame, a display window at Something Special located at 520 Third Avenue West was smashed, although the owner is unsure whether or not merchandise was stolen as a result.

In addition to these early Monday morning incidents, Loaded Sports had its display window broken into on two separate occasions Saturday night. The store located between Loaded Sports and Something Special, owned by Something Special and currently used to showcase their new arrival merchandise, also had a display window broken sometime on Sunday night.

Given the brief timeframe between the Monday morning events and the similarity of the offences, all three of those incidents are being treated as related. While at least two of the businesses have video surveillance that is being reviewed, police are asking for the public's assistance in locating and identifying the suspect(s) in this investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Cst. Miles, Cst. Brownlee or Cst. Jones of the Prince Rupert RCMP at 627-0700 or Crimestoppers at 627-8477. Crimestoppers does not require that you leave your name and you may be eligible for a cash reward.