Shopper victim of drive-by robbery in Calgary grocery store parking lot
Marion Synnott was loading groceries into her car Wednesday at the Superstore in Sunridge when she became the victim of a drive-by robbery.
"A car came into the parking lot [and] went very close beside me. The passenger reached out — kind of leaned out her window — grabbed my backpack and then they sped off," Synnott told CBC on Friday.
"I tried to grab it back, but they were in a car and they had more power than I did," she said.
Her initial reaction to the drive-by robbery was disbelief.
"You kind of go into shock because you can't believe that people actually do this stuff," she said.
Woman with baby stroller
The theft was witnessed by a young woman with a baby in a stroller. She had just successfully deprived the thieves of her bag.
"Luckily she was able to get out of their way — they didn't get her bag and they didn't hurt her or her baby. But they could have really done some serious physical harm to them," Synnott said.
The woman called police on her phone — Synnott's was in the stolen backpack — so that Synnott could report the theft.
Synnott said her car had been broken into three times, and a former house broken into once. So she carried all her valuable documents, such as her passport, her Nexus card and her driver's licence, with her in her backpack.
"I thought that the safe thing to do was to keep my stuff with me. I was wrong. It's not the safe thing to do. I have to find another safe thing to do," she said.
Synnott said the police were helpful.
"They've been awesome, actually," she said.
Credit card activity
It turned out that shortly after the theft occurred, there was activity on Synnott's credit cards.
"If I can get them a list of where they tried to charge things … they'll go and look at the store videos to see if they can identify them," she said.
It turns out that there have been a number of stories circulating on places like Facebook about increasingly brazen criminal behavior in Calgary, with thieves stealing purses out of grocery carts or out of cars while owners load groceries into them.
Const. Jeremy Shaw, who is the digital communications officer for the Calgary Police Service, said Wednesday's incident drives home the need for Calgarians to be mindful of their surroundings whenever they are out in public.
Situational awareness
"It's all about situational awareness, really, and making sure that you're aware of who is around you at all times," Shaw said.
"You just kind of have to have that heads-up attitude that you don't want to provide that opportunity for a potential thief, along with obviously paying attention to your surroundings and protecting your valuables."
That was echoed by Synnott, who said she came forward with her story as a way to alert others.
"Make sure when you're loading your groceries that you leave your groceries till the end," she said.
"Load your children and your personal effects first, get them into the car, and then worry about the groceries because [then] they get a bag of your groceries.
"I just want to make people more mindful so that they're safe."
