Three teens arrested in Hamilton after variety store armed robberies
The three are now facing charges, police said Friday
Three teen males have been arrested by Hamilton police after multiple robberies in downtown Hamilton, police said Friday.
According to a Hamilton Police Service release, all suspects are between the ages of 14 and 15 years old.
On Nov. 25, police said two male suspects robbed a variety store on King Street West and Caroline Street North, one of them armed with a large knife, the other with a gun. Then, on Nov. 30, police said two suspects with similar descriptions entered a variety store in the area of Main Street East and Victoria Avenue, one armed with a knife.
Two of the suspects are now facing charges of robbery with intent to steal and use of weapons. The third is facing five charges, including robbery with intent to steal, use of weapons and failing to comply with release orders.
No one was hurt during the robberies, police said.
Robberies among others, says store owner
Ali Hamade, owner of several Big Bee convenience stores in Hamilton said he believes there has been an increase in robberies in the last two months in the city.
He has had three robberies at two of his locations in the last two weeks alone, he said. Those were not the incidents cited in the police release, he said.
"We got robbed two days in a row last week of November in the Hunter street location," said Hamade.
The first time was for cash, he said, and the person who robbed the stored said he had a gun in his pocket.
The last incident happened a week ago, in the King and Gage location, according to Hamade. A man took a big display of watches and ran away, he added.
Hamade said he wonders if the increase is related to the end of the government's CERB payments. He pointed to the fact people were getting payments from the government over the last two years, because of the financial impact of COVID-19, and when those payments stopped, crime increased.
According to Statistics Canada, the police-reported number of robberies in Canada dipped in the middle of the pandemic but as of June this year began to rise. As of August, 2021, the last month of data currently available, robbery report numbers had not surpassed pre-pandemic levels.