'Like a bomb went off': Truck smashes into First Nation gas station
'All our coolers were destroyed. All our stuff was everywhere. Stuff all over the parking lot.'
A First Nation south of Fort McMurray is offering a $10,000 reward for tips that lead to a conviction after a pickup truck rammed into a gas station it owns.
Security cameras show a flat-deck Dodge Ram speeding in reverse into a Petro-Canada convenience store on the Fort McMurray #468 First Nation at around 3 a.m. Monday.
The truck smashed through the front door, crashed into shelves filled with merchandise, then drove off.
The gas station, south of Fort McMurray, is owned by the First Nation's business company.
"It looked like a bomb went off inside," Byron Bates, CEO of Christina River Enterprises, said Friday. "It was just destroyed. All our coolers were destroyed. All our stuff was everywhere. Stuff all over the parking lot. It was a real mess."
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Police are reviewing video surveillance footage.
The driver of the truck was wearing a dark work outfit with yellow reflective material and black-and-yellow gloves, RCMP said in a news release.
Police said the suspect broke into a nearby industrial yard hours earlier.
"Tackling rural crime is our top priority," Insp. Eric Stebenne, operations officer at Wood Buffalo detachment, said in the news release. "We are actively pursuing this investigation and working with our rural partners and utilizing police resources to solve these crimes."
Anyone with tips can contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers.
Connect with David Thurton, CBC's Fort McMurray correspondent, on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or email him at david.thurton@cbc.ca
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