Local gas station forced to rebuild after break-in

 

By Laura Bohnert

A local Whitecourt gas station is dealing with extensive damages following an attempted robbery on February 1. Mubashara Atif, retailer and owner of the 3700 Block Kepler Street Shell gas station, reports that the incident took place at 4 a.m.

“Either two or three guys drove up in a black ford truck,” she says, describing the security footage that was captured on their surveillance cameras. “Two of them got down, and one backed the truck up and drove into the storefront.”

“The target was the ATM machine,” she adds, “but it was at the back of the store, and they just crashed into whatever was in their way.”

“They did hit the ATM several times, but it was bolted into the ground and they were unable to unbolt it,” comments Atif. “They hit the ATM machine so hard, though, that it bumped into the wall.”

The damage, she describes, is extensive: “The bottom wall, the entire front of the store, all the products inside were damaged. And it wasn’t just the front of the store. When they were trying to back the truck up, they hit the front customer service counter, damaging the safety enclosure glass along with all of the cabinets from the bottom.”

“There was quite a huge amount of structural damage to building, plus product loss,” Atif explains. “Contractors on site have estimated that repairs to the entire structure cannot be less than $100,000. Then, inside the store, they’ve damaged everything,” she adds, estimating those costs to be between $15,000 and $20,000. “Overall, including damages and product loss, we’re looking at more than $150,000.”

The RCMP have yet to release any updates regarding whether or not any suspects have been located, but they were able to disclose that the black Ford F-150 was found burnt later that day. Police believe the suspects had stolen the vehicle and set it on fire soon after the attempted robbery. They are still working to identify the owner of the truck.

In the meantime, despite all of the damages, it is business as usual at Shell.

“Shell is committed to operating 365 days a year,” Atif explains. “We only had to be closed for the first 24 hours. The first step was to make the site safe for our customers, so we were closed for the day. Now the building is boarded up and the door is in place, damaged products have been removed, cleanup has been done, shelving and racks have been removed—it took 24 hours, but we were open the next day to serve our customers.”

“Honestly,” Atif adds, “I really appreciate all my customers and the community at large. Everyone was so overwhelmingly concerned about the damage to the building. We received so many phone calls, and the concern shown by the community and our customers is quite moving.”

“I’ve always felt really embraced by the community,” says Atif. “I know this is a wonderful community in Whitecourt; we are so close-knit,” she adds. “But it gives a very negative feeling that overnight everything can get bulldozed down. It is a horrific feeling—the feeling that you are so vulnerable.”

“I think something has to be done to offer more security to businesses,” Atif adds, noting that this is the second break-in the gas station has experienced in recent years. “We’ve been hit twice,” she describes. “This incident in the beginning of 2017, and there was another serious break-in in 2016 as well.”

“Shell has decided to convert all of their sites to 24-hour gas stations to increase security, but many stations are not 24-hours,” she adds, suggesting that perhaps more security could be introduced by the town as well. “We need to work harder to build up the triangular relationship between the business community, the RCMP, and maybe even the Chamber,” she concludes, noting that the best means of security for businesses and individuals comes from the combined efforts of the community.

Police are asking anyone with information about the break-in to contact the Whitecourt RCMP at 780-779-5900 or, to remain anonymous, to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or at www.tipsubmit.com.