Store employees and customers pepper sprayed during robbery

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This article was published 07/12/2024 (364 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than a dozen store employees and customers were pepper sprayed during a robbery on Thursday.

Winnipeg police said on Saturday that a man and a youth were trying to steal a 55-inch television from a store in the 2300 block of McPhillips Street when a 39-year-old staff member intervened.

Police said the man dropped the TV and assaulted the employee until other staff and shoppers jumped in to help subdue him.

That’s when a youth suspect pulled out a can of pepper spray and blasted it into the face of another employee, affecting about 15 other nearby staff and customers.

The youth was subdued by other staff and customers.

Dominic Stanley Joseph Martins, 26, has been charged with robbery while a 16-year-old male is facing several charges including robbery and possession of a weapon.

The youth has been released while Martins has been detained in custody.