A man has been arrested for the attempted robbery of a jewelry store in ValleyFair Mall.
Maple Ridge RCMP’s Street Enforcement Unit and the Lower Mainland Integrated Emergency Response Team took one man into custody on Thursday, April 16, after a search warrant was executed in Mission.
Now police are trying to identify a second alleged suspect.
First responders rushed to Ryan Jewellers located in ValleyFair Mall at around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 7, when Ridge Meadows RCMP received a call about a robbery in progress.
RCMP said their officers immediately attended the area and learned that two masked male suspects had entered the shopping centre and attempted to rob the business.
However, mall security interrupted the men, who then deployed bear spray and fled the area.
Paramedic public information officer with BCEHS, Brian Twaites, said only one person was treated at the scene and nobody was transported to hospital.
Police were able to contain the scene, they reviewed video surveillance, and spoke with witnesses to identify possible suspects.
Ryan Jewellers in ValleyFair Mall has been the target of thieves over the years.
In March of 2013, a man entered the store and walked away with jewelry valued between $3,000 to $4,000.
Then in 2014 it was targeted two more times, and both times thieves managed to steal thousands of dollars in merchandise.
In 2022 thieves attempted to rob the store three more times with pepper or bear spray used in all of those incidents. And then in December that same year, there was a pepper spray incident in the mall, unrelated to the jewelry store.
The current investigation is ongoing and no further information will be released at this time, said police.
Anyone with more information, who hasn’t already spoken to police about this incident, is asked to contact Maple Ridge RCMP at 604-463-6251 and quote file #2026-6573.