‘Why did he come in? Why did he do this?:’ shop owner questions downtown safety

Frustrations and safety concerns are still an issue in Vernon’s downtown business community.

Peter Martens of Lensmakers Optical says his shop in the 3300 block of 32nd Avenue had the first serious incident in 25 years when a man came in last week and held a box cutter to a male employee’s neck.

Martens says he was very surprised that the suspect, a Coldstream man, was released on bail just a day after the charge of assault with a weapon was laid.

“It was an assault with a box cutter. I haven’t been able to get a hold of the corporal who came down, but I want to find out if the box cutter was actually loaded with a blade because that’s a serious thing. And to have him let out of the street basically with a restraining order, I find it surprising, but maybe that’s a normal thing. I have no idea,” Martens told Vernon Matters.

While not recognizing the man at the time, Martens says they later found out the suspect had bought glasses from the store three years ago.

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“But there was no motivation for what happened as far as I can see.”

Police called it an attempted robbery in a news release, but Martens isn’t sure about that.

“There was nothing mentioned [by the suspect] about a robbery. Why did he come in? Why did he do this? To me, it was just an assault, unless he was high on something and he didn’t know what was happening.”

Martens says they are seeing more and more homeless residents in their area and feels the problems are being ignored.

“The guys are out there all the time. I know they’re also in other areas of town, but I think this one is maybe worse.”

Martens says his tenants upstairs have meetings with clients in the evenings and sometimes they say the street is full of homeless people.

“So I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have to take a serious look at this. I mean something has to be done. Everybody is ignoring it.”

Martens has been at the location for 25 years and says this was the first serious incident.

“Years ago I had the odd break-in, but when I put my bars up everything was fine. It quieted right down. But now I’ve had to put a grate in the back because I had a vestibule there where they were gathering, so I don’t have access to that anymore. And now this happens, so it’s ridiculous.”

Martens did initially consider new safety policies right after the incident on Jan. 16 at around 1:15 p.m., that would have seen the store open, but locked, when only one person was working inside, but he has since come up with a new plan.

“I was going to lock the door when I had one person in the store which is only an hour a day, later in the day. I was going to have them lock the door at 4:30 and (the female employee) would be alone until 5:30, but now I have my son, who works in the Kamloops store, and when that happens and the [woman] would normally be alone, he will come down early from Kamloops and he will stay in the store until closing. It’s only Mondays that this happens.Other than that, I’ve got a guy in here that is fine on his own.”

Michael Parkinson of Coldstream, 63, is facing one count of assault with a weapon in connection with the case.

His next court appearance is on Feb. 6 in provincial court.