THEFT TURNS VIOLENT

Mall employee in critical condition

A 61-year-old man was in critical condition after a violent attempted theft Tuesday inside Southgate Centre.

Edmonton police Insp. Erik Johnson said the victim, who works at a store in the mall, suffered grave injuries.

The man tried to stop a suspect from stealing something from a nearby kiosk just after 10 a.m., he said.

“Our shopkeeper, trying to be a Good Samaritan, intervenes and our suspect then, unfortunately, beat our shopkeeper quite severely,” Johnson said.

Paramedics took the man to the University of Alberta hospital with life-threatening injuries, Alberta Health Services spokesman Kerry Williamson said in a Tuesday email.

The suspect fled the mall after the attack and police were trying to identify him, Johnson said.

He was with three other people, including two men who were in police custody for questioning Tuesday afternoon, Johnson said.

Southgate cameras captured good footage of the attack and the suspect, which should be useful in identifying him, Johnson said.

Johnson was unsure if any weapons were used in the attack. A “tool” was found nearby and they’re investigating if it is connected to the assault, he said.

Witness Ed O’Flaherty, who works in a nearby booth, heard a commotion before seeing a teen in a red jacket flee to the mall’s north doors.

Paramedics were quickly on scene, doing chest compressions on the victim as they took him away on a stretcher.

“It’s horrible, isn’t it?” O’Flaherty said. “Just around the corner. Makes you think twice, really.”

Police erected a white, plastic barrier in the mall Tuesday to cordon off an area with four stores and two kiosks. Police and security guards flanked both ends of the crime scene, steering away curious shoppers.

Southgate general manager Vivian Wagner said the shopping centre recently installed a stateof-the-art security system and police were reviewing video surveillance.

Mall staff are doing everything they can to help police, he said. Nothing like this has occurred at the mall before, he added.

“It’s a very unfortunate event and I hope he’s going to be OK,” Wagner said of the injured man, who “tried to do the right thing.”

ED KAISER Police Insp. Erik Johnson said a 61-year-old man who works at a store at Southgate Centre is in critical condition after an attempted theft Tuesday at one of the mall’s kiosks. Two people were in custody for questioning, while the suspect was still being sought.