London police are investigating after two employees at a halal meat store were attacked with pepper spray in the city’s south end on Thursday.
Just before 4 p.m., a man dressed in black with most of his face covered entered Mona’s Fine Meats and walked directly toward the meat counter, said co-owner Ramadan Naghmoush, who saw the incident in security camera footage.
The man proceeded to walk behind the counter and sprayed one male employee in the face before running out of the store, Naghmoush said.
Lubna Hayajneh, a cashier at Mona’s Fine Meats, said she heard screaming from the back of the store.
“At the beginning, I thought it was a prank and I thought he was a friend,” said Hayajneh, who was at the front cash register when the incident occurred. “But [the male employee] started screaming so loudly. He was in pain.”
Hayajneh said she ran after the suspect.
“I caught him and after that he sprayed me in the face,” Hayajneh said. “I couldn’t see anything. I just left him and put my hands on my face because it was burning like crazy.”
“I started screaming, crying, asking for help and putting my face in cold water,” she said.
Naghmoush said he received a phone call from his fellow co-owner, who was at the store when the incident occurred.
“I was on my way home and halfway, my partner called me and said that we have been sprayed with something we don’t know and everybody is sick,” said Naghmoush, who left the store 10 minutes prior.
He said he called 9-1-1 and turned his car around. When he got back to the store, the two employees had already been taken to hospital and police were on scene.
On Friday, London police released a photo and description of the suspect, describing him as male, white, approximately 6 ft. tall, wearing all black and a pair of safety glasses.
After the incident, the suspect fled the store in an unknown direction, police said in a statement.
Naghmoush said Mona’s Fine Meats was closed for the rest of the day after the attack. The store was back in business on Friday morning.
“It’s a big loss for us, but what can we do?” Naghmoush said. “As long as my guys are OK, that’s what counts.”
Hayajneh said she and the male employee were at the hospital for three hours Thursday afternoon before going home. She will return to work on the weekend.
“My eyes are red, but I’m good,” Hayajneh said. “The doctor said that by tonight, I’ll be super good like nothing happened.”
The male employee was back at work on Friday, Nahgmoush said. He declined to speak to CBC News about the incident.
Mona’s Fine Meats specializes in halal meat, which is meat where the animal is slaughtered in a way that adheres to Islamic law, as defined in the Qur’an. Naghmoush said the store, which has been in business for 25 years, has a community of regulars including both Muslim and non-Muslim customers.
Hayajneh said people have been calling her to check in since they heard about the incident.
“I received maybe 50 calls this morning,” she said. “They are saying, ‘You are a hero.'”
“If you come to our store on a regular day, it’s not a store, we are like family with the customers,” Hayajneh said.
Naghmoush said the store has never had an incident like this before. Both he and Hayajneh said they do not think the act was a hate crime.
“I don’t want to think like that,” Naghmoush said. “It doesn’t look like it the way I see it, unless it’s a personal hate crime.”
London Police are asking the public for help identifying the suspect. People who may have been in the area, have dash-cam footage or video surveillance are asked to call London Police Service at 519-661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.