St. Catharines Detectives Investigating Robbery at Pen Centre

On Thursday, January 16, 2025, at approximately 1:10 p.m. members of Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) 1 District (St. Catharines/Thorold) uniform patrol responded to Pen Centre located at 221 Glendale Avenue in the City of St. Catharines for a robbery that had just occurred.

Initial investigation determined that five suspects entered Griffin Jewellery, where they used a small sledgehammer to smash several display cases. The suspects proceeded to remove jewellery from the cases and place it into bags they were carrying.

A small number of witnesses attempted to intervene which prompted the suspects to flee the area with a small number of witnesses in pursuit. One witness collided with a mall column and two other witnesses were sprayed with an irritant similar to pepper spray. The witness who collided with the mall column was transported to a local hospital to be treated for minor injuries. The witnesses sprayed with the irritant were treated on scene. The suspects are described as follows:

Suspect #1

-          White hooded sweatshirt

-          Black pants

-          Black shoes

Suspect #2

-          Black hooded sweatshirt with white lettering across it

-          Forest green pants

-          White shoes

-          Blue face mask

Suspect #3

-          Black hooded sweatshirt

-          Black pants

-          Black shoes

-          Black duffel bag

-          Blue face mask

Suspect #4

-          Black hooded sweatshirt

-          Black pants

-          White shoes

-          Black duffel bag

-          White facemask

Suspect #5

-          Black hooded sweatshirt

-          Black pants

-          White shoes

-          Green bag

The suspects exited the Pen Centre through an east exit into a vehicle. The vehicle is described as follows:

-          Silver in colour

-          Honda CRV

-          Ontario License Plate BFZV 946

The license plate on the Honda was determined to be registered to a different vehicle. The vehicle was last seen driving toward Chestnut Street West.

The investigation has been assigned to the 1 District Criminal Investigation Branch. Detectives are asking any witnesses, or anyone with video footage to contact them at 905-688-4111, dial option 3, ext 1009703.

Members of the public who wish to provide information anonymously can contact Crime Stoppers of Niagara online or by calling 1-800-222-8477. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards to persons who contact the program with information which leads to an arrest.

#25-5453

See pictures below: