Student wakes up to find his car's hatch snatched a week before Christmas
Theft leaves part-time worker without wheels as he waits for replacement
At first, Liam Turnock thought it was a joke.
The 20-year-old got an early morning knock at his door from his dad who insisted he come outside to see his car, which strangely was missing its back hatch.
"The first thing I thought is when my dad woke me up I thought it was a birthday or a Christmas present for me. I thought it was a big surprise, that he was just pulling my leg that the back of my car had been ripped off."
Turnock took a look and saw it was no prank. The back of his ruby red 2015 Ford Fiesta was missing and snow had gotten inside. The university student, who works part-time at a pet store, inspected the rest of his car and saw about $40 in cash he had left inside was untouched.
Truck spotted on surveillance video
The granola bar he had inside it was also still there. The only thing stolen was the car's hatch. Turnock was flabbergasted and called police. He said even the phone operator with the Winnipeg Police Service was stunned by the brazen robbery.
"The lady that first responded laughed, really. She had never heard of something like this happening before."
Turnock's father did some detective work of his own and went to Toys "R" Us, which is across the street from his condo, just off the 1900 block of Pembina Highway, to look at surveillance video.
Turnock said the video shows a truck pulling in around 1 a.m. to the spot near his car. The video is grainy and doesn't show a licence plate or the person(s) who stole the hatch but Turnock said it shows the truck was the only vehicle to go to that part of the street that morning.
He said the theft has left him confused more than anything.
"I was wondering if I was being targeted by someone, if I had made an enemy somewhere and they were making a mark but then I thought why wouldn't they just key my car or something like that."
'Easy pickings'
He isn't sure why someone stole the hatch but suspects his car was targeted because it was parked on a dark semi-secluded part of the street. "Easy pickings I guess."
Manitoba Public Insurance spokesperson Brian Smiley said thefts like this are rare but have happened before in Manitoba.
He said hatches have been taken before as have catalytic converters, seats and tires and rims.
Smiley had no doubt this was a targeted crime.
"Someone was looking at this particular vehicle. It suited their needs in terms of what they actually wanted. The thief may have had a customer that wanted a hatchback or in fact the thief may have been a person themselves who damaged their own vehicle and they wanted to replace the hatch at no cost," he said.
Turnock wants whoever stole the hatch to know it wasn't funny. He had to have his car towed to an MPI lot and won't get it back for three weeks, causing an inconvenience before the holidays.
"I want them to know that this is not a victimless crime. I have a job, it's the Christmas season, there's a ton of parties and stuff I want to go to and now it's going to be very hard for me to do any of that."
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With files from Tessa Vanderhart and Trevor Brine