Shortly after noon on January 30, two males entered the Shopper’s Drug Mart Pharmacy armed with pocketknives.
Pointing the knives at two staff members in the drop off/pickup station, the two males demanded morphine be handed over.
Hearing the commotion, pharmacist and expectant mother, Julie Traballo’s first instinct was to protect her staff members by getting the two males away from them.
“It was shocking,” she said, not something I expected to happen in Princeton.”
Traballo was somehow able to keep herself calm even though she had a knife pointed at her belly.
“They wanted morphine. I just went back to the pharmacy and grabbed what I could out of the safe and put it into their pack.”
The two males exited through the rear door, the same way they entered, taking with them approximately $825 worth of prescription drugs.
Traballo immediately had staff follow robbery protocol; locking down the store keeping customers inside and calling the RCMP.
The in-store video that captured the robbery showed the time line. From start to finish the robbery took three minutes.
“It seemed like a life time, I am so glad that no one was hurt,” said Traballo.
Investigators have seized the video, identified potential suspects and are actively looking for them. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to call Princeton RCMP at 250-295-6911 or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477