A Barrie woman says her grandfather was held at gunpoint while two men stole his pickup truck from outside of his home.
Sarah Leblanc tells CTV News that her grandparents were about to head to an appointment on Thursday afternoon, when her grandmother went back into their Kozlov Street home to get something.
That’s when Leblanc says two men showed up and yelled at her grandfather to get of his truck.
“My grandfather told them ‘no.’ One of the gentleman then said ‘show him the gun’ and then he held the gun in his face.”
Leblanc says her grandfather then got out of the truck, but before they left, he asked them one question.
“My grandfather actually asked where they were going to leave his truck and they said they were going to leave it in Ottawa and they took off.”
Her grandfather then ran into the house and told his family to call police.
“Call the police, call the police. My truck has been stolen and they held me at gunpoint,” she recalled her grandfather saying.
Barrie police say they were able to locate the pickup truck in the southbound lanes of Highway 400 a short time later.
Officers swarmed the area, some with guns drawn, as they executed a high-risk traffic stop on the Mapleview Drive off-ramp.
“Because there is a firearm involved, it is a safety risk to the officers and the public. So the firearms are drawn to pull them out of the vehicle,” says Barrie police Const. Nicole Rodgers.
Rodgers says an 18 year old from Brampton and an 18 year old from Sudbury were in possession of a loaded firearm.
The pair is now in police custody and will likely face charges in the coming days.
Leblanc says this isn’t the first run of bad luck her family has had in her neighbourhood. Her grandfather was also previously attacked.
“In the summer, my grandfather was attacked on our front porch. He broke my grandfather’s arm and beat him pretty badly.”
She is grateful her family is safe and is praising the public for their assistance in helping police find the truck.
