Sakred Skin and Studio owner Denise Leigh posted this note on the front of her shop's window.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Denise Leigh
January 30, 2022 - 12:00 PM
- This story was originally published Jan. 30, 2022.
A Kamloops tattoo shop owner says she hopes she made a change in a young thief’s life after identifying him through social media and calling him out.
Sakred Skin and Studio owner Denise Leigh said her studio was broken into and cash was stolen from the register, Jan. 17.
When she checked her security feed, she saw the face of a young man stealing the cash.
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Leigh was able to identify the person through social media and learned more about him, including that he had a young son, and told the RCMP his name. She said the RCMP arrested him.
She began checking the security footage more frequently and saw the same person had come back a few days later and tried to enter the shop through the front window.
“I don’t know what trauma led him down this path… I felt so bad for him. I thought 'well, that sucks.' When I saw that he tried to smash the window to get in again, I thought ‘oh no, you don’t,’” she said.
She printed a picture of the person and his name and put it at her front window, asking him to do better since he had a young son and to get help, as she had a feeling he’d come back again.
“This was kind of a way to make me laugh and make my staff laugh by writing a big note because this is not typically what people do.”
A few days later, she noticed on her security camera he had returned and read the note.
“He just turned around and walked away,” she said. “I think me writing the note… it made him turn away.”
This was the first theft she’s experienced at the shop on Victoria Street in 10 years.
“I definitely want him to get help, he has a two-year-old son,” she said.
A TikTok video she shared of the incident has gone viral with more than 500,000 views, 34,000 likes and 300 comments.
“I was not intending for it to go big, I was intending it to just make a funny sound, to make myself laugh,” she said. “I didn’t want to get upset anymore so I wanted to distract myself.”
She hopes her note will have a bigger impact on the person.
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