Security guard stabbed while trying to stop shoplifter at Saanich Walmart
Vancouver Canada December 31 2019 — Police in Saanich are investigating after a security guard was stabbed at a Walmart store in their city late Saturday night.
The incident occurred around 10:30 p.m. at the store at Uptown Mall on Saanich Road. The victim’s coworkers told CTV News Vancouver Island he was attempting to stop an alleged shoplifter when the stabbing occurred.
“He almost got him,” said Walmart employee Jennifer Pauls. “The guy turned around and pulled out – the person I was talking to wasn’t sure what it was, but it was something really sharp – and stabbed him in the arm.”
Pauls didn’t see the incident itself, but she saw the aftermath.
“It was pretty bad,” she said. “He was bleeding really bad and he didn’t look like himself at all.”
She said she frequently works with the security guard, whose name is Randy, and she praised him as a diligent and observant employee. He often notices things other people don’t, she said.
Pauls said she wasn’t surprised to see that Randy had confronted a shoplifting suspect.
“I think that’s just his nature,” Pauls said. “People were saying, ‘Oh, well, you know, you really shouldn’t have gone after him,’ but that’s the kind of person he is. He takes his job very seriously.”
The suspect fled the scene on a BMX-style bicycle, according to Saanich police. They added that the injuries the victim sustained were serious, but not life-threatening.
Pauls, too, said she expected Randy to recover from the incident.
“We were glad to hear that he’s going to be OK,” she said. “We’re just all glad that – as serious as it was – it wasn’t more serious. You know, like a stab in the chest or something like that, because quite easily it could have gone to something even worse than it was.”
Police said no one has been arrested in the incident, which Pauls said was likely captured on the store’s security cameras.