Video has been shared on social media of a violent incident at a Chilliwack grocery store showing an unmasked man punching a staff member in the face while yelling at people.
Just before 3 p.m. on Jan. 26, RCMP received a report of a man who had entered the Garrison Crossing Save-On-Foods and become aggressive.
A number of visitors to the store reported seeing a man not wearing a mask, as required by public health order, attacking customers and possibly a security guard.
“My wife and I were eyewitnesses that walked in the store directly behind him,” according to a Twitter user who shared the video. “It was 100 per cent about his mask, he would not leave when asked saying ‘it’s a fraud!’ He was shopping (and) he had a cart in his hand when it all began.”
(WARNING: Some people might find the content of this video disturbing)
It was several days later when the eyewitness posted more than one video on Twitter. The first (above) is in an aisle of the grocery store and shows an angry-looking man, without a mask, yelling at a group of people confronting him. As those people, including employees, walk backwards towards the person filming, the man is seen punching an employee in the face.
A second video shows what appears to be several people restraining the man who is on the floor behind the checkout counters. Several punches are thrown by one man as the group appears to be fighting to restrain the suspect.
A 53-year-old Chilliwack man is facing several criminal charges after the incident. Gordon Grsic was arrested by RCMP officers at the scene and taken into custody.
He is charged with assault, assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and mischief $5,000 or under.
“He was causing a disturbance and he punched some people,” Rail said Jan. 28. “The man was restrained by bystanders and employees.”
While more than one person, including the person who shared the video, reported to The Progress the aggression was about pandemic mask requirements, Rail said that while the man was not wearing a mask, that was not what the behaviour was about.
Grsic first appeared in court on Jan. 27. He was released from custody and is next due in court Feb. 22.
He has no history of criminal involvement in B.C., according to Court Services Online records.
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