Distraught and angry is how Dave Vatamaniuck of Frank’s Supermarket felt after arriving early in the morning to find an outdoor phone line cut and windows to his business on Quesnel Hydraulic Road smashed.
“I”m kind of numb right now,” Vatamaniuck said Wednesday, Aug. 10, as several RCMP officers investigated the scene. “Hopefully, they catch the guys.”
Vatamaniuck said he had received a phone call at around 5:40 a.m. of the alarms going off.
Upon arrival, he found the windows smashed, and outside, he realized someone had cut the telephone lines on the side of the building.
He believes the suspects had hoped to kill the alarm system, which went off anyway.
”We had one minor break-in years ago,” Vatamaniuck said. “We’ve had the windows for 26 years, and this is the first major thing that we had anything stolen.”
While Vatamaniuck had yet to complete a full inventory inspection, he said the suspects went inside and stole scopes and binoculars.
He guesses he is out $10,000 of product, possibly more.
Thrawn Reid, assistant manager at South Quesnel Liquor Store, was stunned to learn of the crime to his neighbour.
“For this to happen here, I find it’s unnerving,” Reid said.
The Quesnel RCMP said the break and enter occurred Aug. 10 between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. and that the suspects are believed to have departed in a vehicle.
Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed anything suspicious or have any dash-cam footage or video surveillance of the area to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers.
(This article has been updated with comment from the Quesnel RCMP)
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Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: rebecca.dyok@quesnelobserver.com
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