Pharmacist thrown to the ground, assaulted during robbery
Fora Rahmati is stepping up her pharmacy's security system following a terrifying robbery last week.
The Newmarket pharmacist says she was closing for the night when she was assaulted and thrown to the ground by two men who demanded drugs and cash.
"He was bent on me, yelling, "Where is your safe? Where is your narcotics?" she recalled. "They walked me toward the till. I opened the till, they took the money, and they fled."
The suspects, dressed in black, were in and out within minutes.
Jen Belcher with the Ontario Pharmacists Association says there are reports of these violent, brazen pharmacy robberies happening across the province.
"We've seen four times previous levels as per 2021 - that would be in the Toronto area," she noted.
"Pharmacy robberies apparently in our region, York Region is up about 230 per cent compared to last year," Rahmati said.
She added the police were able to get a licence plate for the suspect vehicle but said it was likely stolen.
"This is frightening, so you always think I'm the next person that is getting that gun to her head. It could be me," she said.
Police seek witnesses who may have noticed anything unusual at the Optimum Pharmacy on Davis Drive pharmacy on Nov. 28.
"Often these are happening when businesses are open, so we do suspect there might be people in the parking lots," said York Regional Police Const. Laura Nicolle. "We're encouraging them to contact us."
The Ontario Pharmacy Association said it's working with the College of Pharmacists to deter would-be thieves, including considering making time-delayed safes mandatory.
The association says the opioid crisis has added to the rise in robberies. Pharmacists like Rahmati said they need more protection.
"I don't think I'll be ever able to work by myself at my own pharmacy because of that fear, because of that trauma," she concluded.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.