A local country grocer in Brampton is calling out a trio of thieves after his store’s security camera captured them stealing a turkey, over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Jim Hurt, store manager of The Apple Factory, told Global News a member of his staff alerted him to suspicious behaviour on Monday afternoon, after she witnessed a man run out of his store on the corner of Mississauga and Bovaird roads — with nothing in his hands.
That’s when Hurt said he decided to take a look at his security cameras — and was shocked by what he saw.
“I found that the man, along with two others, came in together and proceeded to go towards the meat counter where the turkeys were,” Hurt said. “That’s when she took the largest bird we had.”
The security video, later posted to the store’s Facebook page, showed a woman, flanked by two men on either side, in front of the poultry shelf. One of the men appears to pick up the 25-pound turkey, and assist the woman in stuffing the bird under her shirt, while the second man stands guard.
The woman is then seen wrapping a shawl around her bulging middle, before all three robbers quickly walk away.
The video has since gone viral online, receiving thousands of views and comments on Facebook. Footage of the bird burglary was posted to the store’s Facebook page with the following message:
“It’s hard for a small business to stay in business when people think it’s warranted to steal. We hope they had a Happy Thanksgiving, on our dime.”
Hurt says he’s disgusted by the brazen heist.
“When people do this, I always take it to heart,” Hurt said.
“You can even go up to us and say ‘Look, I’m short on funds’ and I’ve done it for customers where we’ve paid for stuff or said to them, ‘Come back and pay later.’ But to literally just do it and laugh about it while you’re doing it? What are we teaching?”
Hurt said he’s working on filing a report with police.
A Peel police spokesperson told Global News Tuesday that an investigation into the incident is ongoing and one or two of the suspects in the video have possibly been identified; however, no arrests have been made.
Meantime, while the turkey theft has put an $88 dent in Hurt’s small country store’s bottom line, he says support from the community has helped ease the pain.
“The community’s reaction has been huge,” Hurt said. “Our customer base are all seeing if there’s anything they can do — we’ve even had people offer to pay for the turkey themselves. I mean, it’s absolutely amazing, and I thank them all.”