Friday, March 29, 2024

Man arrested for robbing Oak Bay store and attacking employee with a hatchet

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Victoria and Saanich Police crews have located and arrested a Fort Nelson man who allegedly robbed a store in Oak Bay and assaulted multiple employees.

On November 1st the suspect, who has been identified as Fort Nelson resident Gary Reno, reportedly entered a business in the 1900-block of Oak Bay Ave and attempted to leave the store without paying for a number of items, one of which was a hatchet.

See also: VicPD looking for man who made potentially inappropriate comments to 11-year-old girl

When the cashier tried to stop him from leaving, Reno allegedly attacked him with the hatchet, causing non-life threatening injuries.

Seeing this, two customers stepped in to intervene and were able to disarm the suspect.

After this, the suspect grabbed the Remembrance Day poppy donation box from the counter while yelling and berating the cashier.

In doing so, he spilled much of the donation money onto the floor which caught the attention of another store employee, who attempted to intervene and help their injured coworker.

The suspect then allegedly assaulted the second employee and fled the store with the donation box still in hand.

Search and arrest

According to police, the store manager followed the suspect for a while, until he confronted the manager with a large rock.

The manager then retreated to a safe distance and called police but had lost sight of the suspect by this time.

When officers arrived, they were unable to locate the suspect, but reviewed surveillance footage and were able to identify him as Gary Reno.

Reno was wanted on numerous B.C.-wide warrants for Sexual Interference, Sexual Assault, Assaulting a Police Officer, Assault, Uttering Threats, Mischief, Obstructing a Police Officer and Breaching a Recognizance.

A few days after the incident, Reno was located in Saanich and arrested by a Saanich Police K9 unit on November 5th.

He now faces charges of weapons possession, robbery, and assault causing bodily harm, as well as charges related to his outstanding warrants.

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Brishti Basu
Former Senior Staff Writer and Content Manager at Victoria Buzz.

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