Five suspects, including a girl as young as 11 years old, are wanted in connection with a swarming attack at a pizza restaurant in Oshawa on Wednesday.
The incident happened around 12:30 a.m. at a Pizza Pizza on Wentworth Street East and Cedar Street. Durham Regional Police said they were initially called to the restaurant for an assault.
A group believed to consist of young people was causing a disturbance at the restaurant, with one person jumping behind the counter to try to take an item, police said.
“That suspect was confronted by the victim and a violent struggle ensued. During that struggle, several other individuals also jumped behind the counter, swarmed and assaulted the victim,” police allege in a news release on Saturday.
Extended security camera footage obtained by CTV News shows around 10 people in the group, some of them jumping over the counter to join in the fray.
On Saturday, they released descriptions of the five suspects.
The first suspect is described as a Black girl between 12 and 15 years old with a thin build and long braids. She was wearing a grey t-shirt, spandex grey pants and black sandals.
The second suspect is also a Black girl, between 12 and 15 years old, with a light complexion, a thin build, and black braids tied in a bun. She had on an orange hoodie, black leggings, and black shoes.
The third suspect is a Black girl believed to be 11 to 12 years old, with a light complexion, a thin build, and black box braids. She was last seen wearing a grey hoodie, black leggings and black shoes.
The fourth suspect is a white male with a slim build wearing a black hoodie, black pants and white shoes. The fifth suspect is a Black male with a slim build, wearing a black mask, black hoodie, black puffer vest, and black and white Nike Dunk Shoes.
Police are urging those involved in the swarming to consult a lawyer and then call them.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) called on police to look into “every angle of this incident,” including investigating the possibility that it was hate-motivated.
The NCCM said the suspects pulled off the victim’s hijab before assaulting her and stomping on her head.
During a news conference on Thursday, the victim’s daughter shared that her mother was “deeply shaken” by what happened.
“Did it have to take almost a dozen people, viciously beating my mother, ripping her hijab off, tearing out clumps of her hair, stomping her neck, her back, for us to say that this environment has become unsafe for us?” She asked in an emotional address at the news conference.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact the investigators at 905-579-1520 x 2765 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
With files from Phil Tsekouras and Joshua Freeman
