Businesses see windows broken in weekend vandalism

Two business owners in Okotoks arrived to work on Saturday morning to find their windows were broken.

Quiznos Subs and the barBURRITO restaurants near the Canadian Tire had their windows damaged from people throwing rocks at them.

"Two weeks back, I see my glass is with a small crack on it," explained the owner of Quiznos Subs Rajesh Kumar. "So, I look at the crack and I said, Ok, this might be from one of the stones from one of the nearby cars parking by, or something like that. I just left it behind. I mean, it's a minor crack."

Then, on Saturday morning, Kumar arrived to work and immediately went to his office. 

One of his employees returned to inform him that the windows were broken.

"All the three glass which are facing the road, everything has been cracked into pieces. I mean, it's been broken down. Very clearly, I can see that there is a force being used, it cannot be a chip or something. So, it was very clear for me that it was some sort of vandalizing that was happening," Kumar said.

He contacted the police and then tried to find footage of what happened. Unfortunately, they didn't have surveillance of who did the damage, so Kumar went and checked on the businesses nearby.

Only one other business in the area had their windows damaged and, thankfully, they had surveillance footage.

The video showed that between 4 a.m. and 4:08 a.m. on June 15th, three kids rode their bicycles to the shops, parked them, and began throwing stones at the windows.

The footage then shows them taking off toward the Canadian Tire.

"These kids are not people who are outside the community. They are inside the community," Kumar said. "They come to the shop and they really make trouble in the shop. They go into the bathrooms and start making weird sounds, acting funny."

He also believes they are from Okotoks because he saw them at the Walmart parking lot the day after their windows were damaged. 

Because of that, Kumar believes it was a case of vengeance.

Kumar also thought it could've been because he and the owner of BarBURRITO are both immigrants, as their businesses were the only ones damaged.

While Kumar brought the damages to the attention of the RCMP, he said they were having difficulties trying to identify the suspects.

Unfortunately, both business owners are responsible for covering the costs of the broken windows, which Kumar said is difficult due to the thin profit margins.

barBurrito window broken by rocks (supplied via barBurrito)

Kumar moved from India and has lived in Okotoks for the last eight years and said this is the first time he has heard of something like this happening before.

"We will replace this, we don't want the kids to get in trouble also," he said. "What we don't want is this to be happening again."

He said that he could call insurance to help get it replaced but wants the damage to stop.
 
Anil Poptani, the co-owner of barBURRITO, said when businesses get damaged like this, it could cause other business owners to hesitate before they decide to move here and open a business.

Poptani agreed with Kumar in thinking that it may be a targeted attack.

"Just by looking at the store owners, it appears as if it could be," Poptani said, who added that no one will truly know the motivation behind the broken windows unless the suspects come forward.

The Okotoks RCMP were unable to comment due to the incident being under investigation.

If you believe you have information on this incident and who was involved, you're asked to contact Okotoks RCMP or Crime Stoppers.