Two Christmas kettles were stolen in Kamloops in the past week.
Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
December 09, 2021 - 1:00 PM
Two Salvation Army Christmas kettles have been stolen in two different incidents in Kamloops in the past week.
One incident took place at the London Drugs on the 450-block of Lansdowne Street on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at around 4:40 p.m.
The second took place at Real Canadian Superstore on the 900-block of Columbia Street West last night, Dec. 8 at around 7p.m.
In the first incident a loitering man was joined by two females before approaching a kettle volunteer, threatening to bear spray him and attempting to remove the kettle with bolt cutters, according to a media release by Kamloops RCMP.
When that failed the suspects reportedly took the whole tripod and walked westbound.
The male suspect is described an Indigenous, 5’7" tall, and wearing a big green jacket and a bandana face mask. The first female suspect is described as Indigenous, 5' to 5’3" tall with a chubby face and dark hair and was wearing dark clothing. The second female suspect is described as Indigenous, 5' to 5’3" tall and wearing dark bulky clothing.
Police noted heavy foot and vehicle traffic in the area at the time of the robbery and are hopeful someone saw something that may help identify a suspect.
In the second incident, police were en route in response to a report the store was being robbed, when the fleeing suspect grabbed the kettle from a volunteer who was walking to his vehicle, RCMP said.
A struggle followed and the victim fell to the ground as the culprit made off with the collections. No injuries were reported. The suspect was last seen running west toward Summit Drive.
Suspect images from the kettle robbery at Real Canadian Superstore on Columbia Street West in Kamloops, Dec. 8, 2021.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/RCMP
The suspect is described as a Caucasian male, 5’10" tall. He was wearing a puffy jacket, black ball cap, black scarf around the neck and nose, blue jeans with rips and a grey shoulder bag.
Capt. Cory Fifield is a Commissioned Officer and spokesperson for the Salvation Army. He said he collected information about the incidents from his volunteers and staff.
“At the Superstore, our pickup staff member had just retrieved the contents of the kettle and someone came up from behind him and ripped the bag out of his hand and ran off,” he said.
Fifield said the organization is removing evening volunteer shifts from the London Drugs location and adding a second staff member to accompany the pickup worker for the last two weeks of the campaign.
He said after helping to run the campaign for fifteen years, this is the first time he has seen kettles stolen.
“We have no reason to believe the two incidents are connected but we are taking measures to ensure the safety of our staff and volunteers,” he said. “Volunteers work in front of stores that are busy at this time of year. They work in lit areas and often there are security officers in the vicinity.”
Fifield said it is unclear at this time how much money was stolen, and remains optimistic about the generosity the community is showing this year.
“We are ahead of last year for donations,” he said. “Between our amazing volunteers and the generosity coming from our community, we will be able to continue supporting people in need in the coming year.”
The investigations are ongoing. Anyone who witnessed, has surveillance or dash cam footage, or information which may help police identify a suspect, is asked to please contact the Kamloops RCMP and reference file 2021-42645 for the Lansdowne robbery, 2021-42793 for the Columbia Street West.
— This story was updated at 3:56 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, to add information from RCMP.
— This story was updated at 10:40 a.m. Friday, Dec. 10, 2021 to add suspect images from the Columbia Street robbery.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2021