Police are seeking the public’s assistance after several downtown Victoria businesses had their windows smashed.
Plywood covers the damaged window at one of the downtown storefronts.
Authorities were called to the 1100-block of Government Street just after 6 a.m. Feb. 8, after a staff member at a local business reported the front window of their restaurant had been smashed, according to police.
The officers called to the scene took notice of another nearby business across the road with similar damage.
Upon further inspection, police began to piece together a window-smashing spree that spanned seven city blocks in the downtown core.
Const. Terri Healy told CHEK News calls continued to pour in reporting storefront after storefront had had their windows smashed.
“Shortly after that officers were alerted to another glass smashing incident nearby. This one was at the corner of Fort and Government St. Later on that morning, around 10:30 a.m., there was another report that three businesses in the 500 block of Johnson St. also had their windows smashed,” Healy said.
One of those businesses was Good Vibe Space.
Store manager Marley Reburn said she noticed glass on the floor while starting to open the store, but didn’t know where it came from.
“As I turned the lights on and had a better look, I found a rock on the ground and there was tons of glass all in our front window display,” Reburn said. “It almost went through our other window on the other side, but it just hit the frame of the window pane. There was some damage there, but fortunately not another window pane was smashed.”
This isn’t the first time Good Vibe Space has had to deal with this kind of incident.
Reburn said the store opened in October 2020 and this is the second time it has dealt with a damaged window.
“As a small business, we have to pay for that. That’s something that comes out of our pocket and it’s challenging,” she explained.
Adding this time the store had to close down for two hours Wednesday morning for clean up, costing them more money.
“It just wasn’t safe for patrons to be in the store with that sort of glass. Also the product, we had to determine what we were going to do with the product that was covered in shards of glass,” said Reburn.
Victoria police say they are aware of at least six business that have incurred damages, but suspect there may be more and are urging members of the public to come forward with any information they might have.
Officers are also investigating if the same person is responsible for all the damage.
In a news release issued Wednesday, the suspect is described as a “Caucasian man wearing black pants and a black jacket with the hood up and black shoes.”
Surveillance footage of the man wanted in relation to Wednesday’s vandalism | VicPD
“If your business’ windows were damaged this morning, if you have information about any of these incidents or were in the area, or if you have surveillance footage from the area, please call the VicPD Report Desk at (250) 995-7654 extension 1,” police said in a statement.
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CHEK News
Mackenzie Read
