Editor's note: This story was updated on Feb. 25, 2025, at 12:30 p.m. with new information released by South Simcoe police.
Peter Dykie is running on adrenalin — and a lot of caffeine.
After staying up late Monday to prepare for what is expected to be a busy Feb. 25 evening of public meetings at the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury, the municipal councillor and the owner of Bradford Jewellery had just settled in for a night’s sleep when he was awoken by a call — his Holland Street East business had been robbed once more.
“Nobody got hurt; just cabinets got smashed out, jewelry stolen and the front window was blown out,” he told BradfordToday from the store Tuesday morning. “A lot of damage. There’s anger. It’s disappointing how these people are wandering around town.”
Dykie says the incident happened around 3:40 a.m. and camera footage shows the suspects appeared to use guns loaded with frozen paintballs to break the glass. They wore gloves and hoodies, and seemed to know what they were doing.
Although he’s still calculating the exact loss, Dykie estimates tens of thousands of dollars in jewelry was taken.
But South Simcoe police are confident they can catch the suspects, he said.
“They’re working on it,” Dykie said.
He’s been on site since about 4 a.m., working with a crew to sweep shattered glass, board up the front window and co-operate with investigating officers.
“We’ve been cleaning glass for six hours,” he said, noting the store is open for business. “They broke about six showcases. There’s glass all over the place.”
Police say they responded to an alarm signalling the glass had been broken at the store, and were on scene within two minutes.
"Members of the canine unit attended to assist," police spokesperson Samah Othman said in a media release. "Through the initial investigation, police determined that a male suspect used an unknown object to break the glass and fled the area on foot. After a canine search in the area, the suspect was not located. The suspect did gain access to merchandise and detectives are awaiting further information to determine the items stolen."
The suspect mentioned is described a wearing a backpack, black sweater, black sweatpants, and black shoes with white soles.
This is just the latest incident at the long-standing downtown store. It was robbed in 2009. And in July 2023, Dykie was struck with a pistol, requiring him to go to hospital for 10 stitches to the top of his head, after a failed armed-robbery attempt.
There are now three layers of security at the store.
“We’ll just keep getting better and better alarm systems,” he said. “With the way times are now, we just have to keep putting in more security. That was in the works, anyways. It’s become that bad. I’ve been doing my best to stay up on it.”
Dykie advises Bradford residents to lock their doors and vehicles at night, and keep security systems up to date.
“The whole nine yards,” he said.
The street crime unit's investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 705-436-2141 or 905-775-3311. Tips can also be
submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or crimestopperssdm.com.
— With files from Michael Owen
