Downtown Salmon Arm business Acorn Music was robbed by a man brandishing a gun Friday morning, Jan. 25. (Lachlan Labere/Salmon Arm Observer)

Downtown Salmon Arm business Acorn Music was robbed by a man brandishing a gun Friday morning, Jan. 25. (Lachlan Labere/Salmon Arm Observer)

Armed man robs Shuswap music store

Acorn Music manager shares brief, unsettling exchange with suspect

Update: Jan. 28, 2019

Police are investigating an armed robbery of a downtown Salmon Arm business that occurred Friday, Jan. 25.

Acorn Music manager Dale Thompson said he had opened the store, located in the 100 block of Lakeshore Drive NE, at around quarter to 10 when a man unknown to him arrived. Thompson said the man entered the store, produced a firearm and asked for the money in the cash register.

“He showed me a gun and asked for the money in the till, which I gave him,” said Thompson, adding the gun was not pointed at him during the exchange.

After the man left, Thompson immediately called the police.

Related: Break-in at popular Shuswap convenience store nets ATM

Thompson described the suspect as Caucasian, approximately 5’7″and in his twenties. He had short hair, a scruffy beard and was wearing a dark-coloured hoodie with dark sunglesses and a dark hat.

“He didn’t look scruffy, just a scruffy beard and that was about it,” said Thompson.

Feeling shaky after the incident, Thompson said in his 40 years of working in Salmon Arm, he couldn’t recall there being an armed robbery of a downtown retailer.

“I don’t know why they would pick this store, especially at that hour of the day,” said Thompson. “We were broken into and the till stolen once years ago, and that did happen to somebody around the corner but it hasn’t happened for years.”

Police ask that anyone who may have seen the suspect downtown contact the Salmon Arm RCMP detachment at 250-832-6044, or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.


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