Police are asking the public to help identify the man involved in an armed robbery at a Morinville pharmacy last week.
RCMP say that on July 14, around 11:30 in the morning, police responded to a report of a robbery at the Champlain Pharmacy IDA.
A lone male walked into the pharmacy wearing a black bandana and told staff he had a knife in his pocket. He left the store with an undisclosed amount of prescriptions drugs, which he carried in a yellow plastic grocery bag.
He’s described as Caucasian, five feet six inches tall with an athletic build, about 20-25 years old, and wearing a navy-coloured hoodie, blue jeans, white running shoes, and large black-rimmed sunglasses with mirrored gold lenses.
While armed robberies are not exactly common within the Morinville detachment area, this incident is similar to another mid-day armed robbery that took place Nov. 14, 2015, in Gibbons.
In that incident, a lone male went into the Guardian Drug Store, gave staff a note and asked the pharmacist to hand over prescription drugs. The pharmacist let the man go behind the counter to take all the drugs he wanted before he left the business, but police did not specify the type or quantity.
At that time, police said they believe he was the same suspect who had tried to rob the Guardian Drugs in Morinville, one-week prior on Nov. 8. In that case, the employee did not co-operate and the would-be robber left empty handed.
Morinville RCMP Cpl. Daryl Charron said at this point police don’t believe those incidents are connected to the most recent robbery, other than being similar in that prescription drugs were stolen.
He said while the number of robberies is increasing, it’s still fairly unusual in the area.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a common trend. The number of armed robberies or robberies specifically are increasing because of, I would say, issues relative to addictions,” he said.
Charron emphasized police want everyone to take care of their own safety first. Stores should install surveillance equipment to capture any potential incident on camera, and said clerks should never confront or resist robbers.
“It’s no different from wariness in vehicles to prevent thefts, they take the proper precautions and minimize the risk of becoming victims themselves,” he said.
The matter is still under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Morinville RCMP at 780-939-4520 or report information anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
