At first, 12-year-old Andre Giardino thought the man dressed in black standing outside his local Sobeys supermarket was merely suspicious.
But when the man pulled out a knife and followed customers into the store, Giardino knew he was dangerous.
“Once I saw the knife I was shocked. I told my uncle because I was worried someone was really going to get hurt,” Giardino said.
The boy’s uncle immediately alerted the store manager, who called police. The knife-wielding man was arrested and found to be on a probation order.
It was Giardino’s quick thinking last May that earned the Grade 6 student a Community Member Award yesterday at Toronto Police headquarters.
A total of 37 people were granted the award, which recognizes “unselfish assistance rendered to the service or for an initiative or innovation that impacted positively on the image or operation of the service.”
