Whyte Avenue smoke shop vandalism caught on video: ‘It was very scary’

An Edmonton smoke shop employee said she was petrified when someone came into the store while it was open this weekend, pushed over several shelves and did upwards of $50,000 worth of damage.

“It was very quick but it was very scary, very loud. Definitely won’t think of shattering glass the same anymore,” said Candice Murray, who has worked at The Smoke Shop on Whyte Avenue for three years.

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The vandalism happened on Saturday and all of the destruction was captured on surveillance video.

The video shows a man in a black hooded jacket walk into the store at around 9:40 p.m. Saturday, 20 minutes before the store was set to close for the night. Wearing a hat, sunglasses and carrying a duffle bag, the suspect can be seen pushing over three large glass cases then running out the front door.

The entire ordeal only lasted a few seconds.

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The cases held several handmade glass-blown bongs. Each of the pieces ranges in price from $100 to $5,000, Murray said. About 57 glass pieces were broken in the brazen crime, she said.

“A lot of time and work gets put into them by each artist. Definitely a couple hours, maybe even days on some of them,” she said.

The employee believes the man came into the store earlier Saturday afternoon. Surveillance video shows a man dressed in similar clothing enter the store just before 1 p.m., walk around looking at several of the shelves, then leave the store.

Murray said in the three years she’s worked at The Smoke Shop, she’s never experienced anything like this.

“We’ve never had hate like this,” he said. “He had gloves on. He came in here to do that. He knew what he was doing.

“The cameras aren’t hidden. They’re out in the open. It’s very obvious.”

The owner of the store is hopeful insurance will cover the cost of the damage. The store’s staff has given police statements about what happened.

Police are investigating, but say they have not yet identified the suspect.