EDMONTON – Charges are pending against a 29-year-old man after a violent assault and carjacking at a west-end strip mall earlier this week.
“He has been on our radar before. I can’t divulge his information right now because he hasn’t been formally charged,” said Staff Sergeant Barry Maron with the Edmonton Police Service (EPS).
The pending charges come after a man allegedly pointed what appeared to be a gun at a mother and her seven-year-old daughter as they walked to their car, in the area of 170 Street and 99 Avenue, shortly before 8:00 Tuesday night.
The woman and her child had just left a store when the suspect demanded her purse and car keys.
“At that point, she had screamed out for help and instructed her seven-year-old child to run for safety, which the child did,” said EPS Acting Sergeant Neil Thompson. “The woman was attempting to flee back towards the store when the male was assaulting her.”
The man allegedly threw the 46-year-old woman to the ground.
“She was fortunate enough to steer her daughter to safety and intervened to try to fend off the suspect while her daughter went to safety. In the course of this, she was assaulted, punched, and pushed to the ground,” said Thompson.
Police say a number of people tried to stop the assault, including a 56-year-old man.
“The suspect then pointed the firearm at the male that was attempting to help, causing him to flee at which time the suspect jumped into this male’s vehicle and took off in the vehicle,” Thompson explained.
The Toyota Venza was located near 149 Avenue and 66 Street at approximately 5 a.m. Thursday. The vehicle was seized for forensic testing.
An employee from a nearby business told Global News a young girl ran into the store crying on Tuesday evening and told a cashier that a man was beating her mother. A staff member called police.
The employee said the mother also came into the store before police arrived.
“The mother of the young girl suffered minor injuries,” said Thompson, “but as you can well imagine, was very traumatized by the event.”
“It’s certainly surprising that somebody would assault a woman that has her young child with her. That is quite rare. I haven’t seen that very often in my career and hopefully won’t see anymore of them.”
“It’s much appreciated, the actions that were taken, however we all have to be very cautious,” said Thompson. “These situations are potentially very dangerous.”
The 29-year-old suspect was arrested at a residential property around 4:30 p.m. Friday. The man’s name has not been released. Officers say he will remain in custody until charges can be sworn before a justice, either over the weekend or early next week.
This story was originally published on Wednesday, Jan. 29. It was updated at 7:35 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31 to include information about the arrest. The story was further updated Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014 to include the man’s age.