For the sixth time in just over a month, the Food Frenz convenience store in west Ottawa was held up on Sunday, but this time, the robber didn’t get very far.
Hours after a group of concerned area residents held a rally to draw attention to a rash of robberies in the area of Carling and Grenon avenues, a lone male suspect armed with a knife entered the convenience store at 2910 Carling Ave., took all the cash from the till and fled on food through Michele Heights Park.
Within two minutes, around 10 police cars, some squad cars, some unmarked, responded to the robbery in time to pursue the suspect on foot from the convenience store through the park to Michele Drive, where he was arrested. Officers recovered both a knife and money.
“They came from everywhere. It’s very nice,” said store owner Alice Jadon. Since February 7, the Food Frenz has been robbed six times. Jadon and her husband spent a lot of money upgrading security in the store in that time. They’ve made the lights outside the store brighter and kept the doors and windows clear to let the clerk see outside and lock the door if necessary. She said they’ve set up other security measures, but didn’t want to advertise.
“We want to keep it secret,” she said. “We don’t want those buggers to know what we have. That’s the way we catch these guys very fast.”
