Police follow snow prints to catch liquor store robbers

A quartet of teenagers who tried to make an on-foot getaway following a liquor store robbery during last night’s snowfall got a lesson in tracking.

Officers arrested four youths, aged 15 to 17, by following the tracks left in the snow by the suspected bandits after responding to a liquor store robbery at 10:30 p.m. in the 32400 block of Simon Avenue.

Const. Ian MacDonald said the suspects may not have thought out their caper clearly.

"Trying to flee on foot, in snow, and you are carrying a dozen liquor bottles? Again. Not the best plan."

MacDonald said the teens entered the store wearing masks and balaclavas, and armed with pepper spray and a blunt object.

"For the 20-yearo-old clerk that was working there, it was very frightening for her," he said.

The clerk is fine but shaken up, he added.

Three of the suspects hail from Abbotsford, while the oldest, a 17-year-old male, is from Surrey.

One of the four suspects is a 16-year-old female, which MacDonald described as "unusual."

"Here we are in the middle of doing Lodestar presentations, which are trying to steer kids clear of making bad choices. . . and we are having four youths trying to pull off a liquor store robbery," said MacDonald.

The four are expected to make their first court appearance in Abbotsford provincial court today.

"The only tracks they leave now will be from the sheriff’s transport vehicle," said MacDonald.

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