After taking off a couple days to heal, 70-year-old Sharon Brown was back at it on Friday morning. Upon re-opening her store this morning, Brown was greeted by a crown of supporters in a show of solidarity.

(DAN WALTON / iNFOnews.ca)

Knowing that Ogo’s Ice Cream was planning to reopen this morning, owner Sharon Brown and her staffers were greeted by a large crowd in a show of solidarity.

Brown said she felt overwhelmed to see so many people.

“The community support has been amazing, really truly amazing,” she said. “Not anything I ever expected.”

Today’s door-crashing event was planned by members of the public after Brown, 70, was the victim of a violent robbery on Wednesday morning. While alone in the store, two masked men entered, and ended up striking Brown with a hammer causing a serious injury to her arm. The entire cash register was stolen as well.

Despite what she experienced just two days earlier, Brown was seen full of energy this morning with a chipper attitude.

One supporter at Ogo’s this morning was Traci Fladager, who brought her three grandchildren.

“We saw on Facebook what happened here and we wanted to come down and let her know that we support her, we’ll always support her, and she’s not alone,” Fladager said.

Mayor John Vassilaki, while at Ogo’s for the opening, called Wednesday’s attack unfortunate and “a cowardly act on the part of those two individuals, whoever they were, that came and held her up and hurt her the way they did.”

Located just across the street from City Hall, Vassilaki said he eats at Ogo’s quite often – especially when lengthy meetings are scheduled at City Hall.

“I was disgusted with what happened. Unacceptable,” he said. “It’s not who we are and when things like this happen, it’s very very unfortunate when these things happen, especially to a senior.”

Also seen at the ice cream parlour this morning were technicians with Betts Electric Ltd, who were busy installing a new security system at no cost. The store’s rear entrance was also reenforced and upgraded (for free) thanks to Schoenne Homes and LockWorks Inc.

“We felt compelled to help out and make her feel safe,” Chris Schoenne said.

READ MORE: Locals step up to re-enforce security at Ogo's Ice Cream after violent robbery

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