Three employees of a Food Fare in Winnipeg were punched by a male wielding brass knuckles Tuesday, leading to a 17-year-old boy’s arrest and a search for additional suspects.
Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said the assaults do not appear to be related to any incidents or issues that involve the local grocery chain and were recently in the news.
“This would stand on its own as an unrelated incident,” he told the Free Press Wednesday.
The WPS said staff escorted the teenage suspect out of the store, at Portage Avenue and Burnell Street, earlier Tuesday. Police declined to reveal the reason the boy was removed, deferring comment to Food Fare.
The boy allegedly returned with others at about 6:40 p.m.
“The victims were the same people that were involved in the process of escorting him out during the earlier incident,” said Chancy.
After the suspects fled before police arrived, the male employees, ages 19, 22 and 46, were taken to hospital to be treated for upper-body injuries.
One may have suffered a concussion, said Chancy. The incident was initially reported to the WPS as a robbery.
The 17-year-old boy was later arrested in an alley on the 1000 block of Selkirk Avenue, east of McPhillips Street.
Officers found brass knuckles that the suspect got rid of in a nearby yard, said police.
The teen is facing three counts of assault with a weapon and one count of possessing a prohibited or restricted weapon. He was released on an undertaking.
Additional arrests are anticipated, said Chancy.
“This would stand on its own as an unrelated incident.”–Const. Claude Chancy
At the store Wednesday, Food Fare co-owner Tarik Zeid declined to comment.
On Tuesday night, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs announced it would hold a news conference to discuss the incident, alongside Food Fare’s owners.
Grand Chief Cathy Merrick, Food Fare owners Munther and Tarik Zeid, and family member Wajih Zeid were scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday morning.
The event was cancelled about two hours before it was supposed to begin. No explanation was given.
The Food Fare at Portage and Burnell, located in the West End, has been the scene of a number of incidents or allegations involving employees and people they accused of shoplifting.
In recent years, Food Fare co-owner Munther Zeid has discussed a rise in shoplifting at his stores. He has previously talked about keeping baseball bats for staff to wield when confronting alleged thieves.
In January 2022, he told the Free Press two workers had a gun pointed at them by someone who was stealing meat from the Portage and Burnell store.
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Security video viewed by a Free Press reporter showed the employee pulling on the woman’s bag. The woman appeared to swing her fist at the employee before the staff member appeared to punch her in the face.
In response, the AMC, which provides food orders and vouchers to clients under a federal government program, announced it had severed its relationship with the grocer but was willing to reconcile if an apology was forthcoming.
The AMC said in the Tuesday news conference advisory it’s “working closely with the owners of Food Fare, who have expressed their sincere apologies for a previous incident where a woman was injured by security at their store.
“In response, the owners have agreed to implement cultural sensitivity training for their staff and to draft a comprehensive policy to address shoplifting.”
The April incident led to further allegations of staff assaulting people who were accused of stealing food. Video posted on Facebook on May 3 showed a group of people confronting staff over the April incident.
Shay, who declined to give her last name, said Wednesday she saw an Indigenous man being assaulted by a man wielding a baseball bat about a block east of the store Feb. 12.
She said the man with the bat was wearing a shirt with a Food Fare logo, and she recognized him as an employee she had previously seen in the store.
“The guy (being hit) wasn’t fighting back,” said Shay. “He was backing away with his hands up. I’ve seen some pretty rough things, but that was very traumatic.”
Shay said the men ran out of sight a short time later.
She said the incident was reported to police, and she later spoke to officers while they were at the store.
Officers indicated they were unable to locate the man who was hit with the bat, said Shay, who was unaware if anyone was charged.
Defending the store: Zeid
Gloria Enns previously said she stopped at a red light at Portage and Arlington Street on May 5, when she saw two men fighting. She said one was wearing a red apron she recognized as a Food Fare uniform.
Enns said she called the store and an employee confirmed a worker confronted a male after seeing him steal meat.
Food Fare’s Tarik Zeid told the Free Press last week no one was physically hurt and the employee was “defending the store and the merchandise.”
Security footage from the store, which was viewed by the Free Press, appeared to show a man putting two steaks in a reusable bag. The employee confronted him at the entrance of the store and tugged on the bag in his hand.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
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As a general assignment reporter, Chris covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.
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Updated on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 10:43 AM CDT: Adds comment from WPS
