Three thieves, armed with bear spray, robbed the Oakridge Mall Apple Store in Vancouver, BC just before closing Monday evening, spraying approximately 40 people and making off with an unknown number of iPods, iPads, and Macs.
The National Post carried word of the robbery, which saw three men bearing a caustic, cayenne pepper-based chemical attack the Apple Store. There were roughly 40 customers in the store, of which five would later need treatment by paramedics for exposure to the spray. The robbers are said to have fled by car.
Apple Stores keep most of their stock of the larger ticket items in storage rooms behind closed doors, so most of the higher-end items Apple sells were most likely out of reach for the robbers. Vancouver police report only that the thieves made off with “a small number of electronics.”
Apple Stores are an attractive target for thieves. Earlier this year, robbers in Paris made off with $1.3 million in merchandise from the Apple Store there, and more recently a thief destroyed a $100,000 custom glass door in order to steal $64,000 in merchandise.
