Security video from a Malton jewelry store shows a group of masked suspects use a minivan to crash into the front of the building, which was filled with customers and staff, before pointing a firearm at a woman behind the counter in an apparent robbery over the weekend.
The incident occurred at New Rana Jewellers on Airport Road near Derry Road around 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The video shows a red minivan repeatedly backing into the store while customers run towards the back. The van breaks through the glass and metal bars protecting the shop.
Baldev Manjania, the owner of New Rana Jewellers, said he witnessed the van hit his store three times.
“Then three guys came outside and one guy had a gun and two guys had hammers and they start breaking the glass. The one guy showed the gun to my wife. He pointed it to my wife’s head.”
Manjania said he ran to the back of the store and grabbed a sword, which he said was a religious symbol given to him as a gift from a priest at his temple about a decade ago. He came out to the front of the store brandishing the sword and the suspects, who were all masked, fled into a separate getaway vehicle. Manjania described the vehicle as a black Honda Civic.
Manjania said he struck the back of the vehicle as it drove away. He said the only thing he thought about when he decided to wield the sword was protecting his family.
“I thought he would shoot my wife. I was so scared,” he said.
Manjania said that his brother previously wielded the sword to scare robbers away in 2012. At the time, the suspects took off empty handed but left their showcases smashed.
Manjania hopes that the suspects can found.
“Help us. Help the police. If anybody knows them, call the police right away."
- With files from CTV News Toronto's Tamara Cherry
