A group of five boys — the youngest only nine years old — have been arrested in connection with a commercial break-in and arson early Thursday morning, police say.
Officers were called to an Ellice Avenue retail store around 1 a.m., where they discovered the front window had been smashed, the inside of the store had been damaged and merchandise was stolen.
Half an hour later, they were called about a group of youth who had set a fire inside a Sargent Avenue gazebo.
With the help of a K9 unit, police tracked the suspects down to the 500 block of Spence Street and took them into custody.
The suspects now face commercial break and enter and arson charges. Four of the youths, between the ages of 12 and 14, were released on an undertaking and turned over to adults, while the nine-year-old was referred to the province’s Turnabout program, which aims deter children under 12 from criminal activity.