Three Food Fair employees were assaulted on the job and released from hospital. Police continue to search for suspects in connection with the attack at the West End store. The store has been the scene of several high-profile violent incidents involving employees.
Co-owner Munter Seid told the Free Press on Friday that the employees who were punched by a brass-knuckle-wielding individual at the Portage Avenue and Burnell Street Food Fair on Tuesday are recovering.
“They are recovering well,” he said. “A couple are back to work and one of them is scheduled to return next week. We gave him a little extra time off. They're doing well.”
Mike Diehl / Free Press
Co-owner Munter Seid told the Free Press on Friday that the three employees who were punched by a person brandishing brass knuckles at the Portage Avenue and Burnell Street Food Fair on Tuesday are recovering. .
On Tuesday, a 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with assault and weapons possession. At the time, police said additional arrests were expected.
As of Friday, no further arrests had been made, a Winnipeg police spokesperson confirmed.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs announced Tuesday night that co-owners Munter and Tariq Zeid, along with family member Waji Zeid, would hold a press conference Wednesday morning to discuss the incident, but the press conference was held about two hours before the meeting. It was canceled without explanation. was scheduled to begin.
Zaid said Friday that the event was only postponed, not canceled, as all parties involved “gather further information” about the incident.
“We have decided that we need to wait until all the facts are known and review further information before making a statement, whether or not we hold another press conference,” he said. “This time it was postponed essentially to give everyone time to have a proper discussion, get the facts, and move forward positively.”
On April 28, security camera footage of an altercation between the store's manager and an Indigenous woman prompted the Manitoba Assembly of Chiefs to announce it was cutting ties with the grocery store, but only if the manager apologized. He suggested that a settlement might be reached.
Security video seen by a Free Press reporter showed an employee tugging on the woman's bag. The woman swung her fist at the employee, after which the employee appeared to punch her in the face.
“We are working closely with the owners of Food Fair, and they have expressed their sincere apologies for the past incident in which a woman was injured by the store's security guard,” AMC said in a press conference advisory Tuesday. '', and the owners promised the following: Develop policies to address shoplifting and provide cultural sensitivity training for staff.
AMC provides food and meal vouchers to customers through federal programs.
Zaid said dialogue with the AMC was ongoing and suggested the public did not understand the full extent of the April 28 incident through news and social media, but did not elaborate further.
“It's not fair to point fingers and the facts weren't properly presented the first time or even weeks ago,” he said. “That, in a way, has led to an ongoing problem.
“But again, I think once everyone knows the whole true story, everything will take care of itself.”
The West End Food Fair has had several incidents and allegations related to shoplifting. In 2022, Zaid told the Free Press that the person who stole the meat pulled a gun on two staff members.
Zaid said in a 2019 media interview that he placed baseball bats strategically around the store for employees to use if they were notified of a theft.
Zaid said Friday there were no plans to beef up security at the store, which would focus on its business as a grocer.
“I'm not a social worker or a psychiatrist, so I can't answer the question of why people do things like that or how they think. I'm a meat-and-potatoes grocer. That's what I do. “What I'm programmed to do, meat and potatoes, that's what I'm good at,” he said.
“And I'm not going to allow anyone to interfere with my business and harm my staff, my customers, my family, my neighborhood. I won't.”
Some local grocery stores say they have increased security to reduce theft.
At Dinos Grocery Mart, manager Rajan Varma said it was an expensive investment to hire security guards in December, but thefts have fallen by about 75 percent since then.
Before December, there was at least one attempted shoplifting incident every day.
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“We had to hire security guards because the police couldn't keep up,” he said.
Elizabeth Ogidam has owned Akins International Foods in Sargent for 20 years. She sees no point in investing in security guards, she said, and police rarely show up when she's called to her store.
“It doesn't matter. We have cameras in the back, front and outside, so be prepared when they come in,” she said. “I've found my camera outside 10 times now. They (thieves) will take it and throw it in the trash.”
Ogidam said her focus is on protecting against violence during shoplifting cases, but she declined to provide further details.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abbas
reporter
Malak Abbas is a reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press.
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