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ARCHIVES Chie

abate 6, Number 15

The. Student’ Voice of Universitysof&Prnce-Edward Island

Shawn and Glen

eee The UPEI Perspective

Photo by Stephen Bettles

Above RCMP and Charlottetown Police in front of the K-Mart de- partment store minutes after the armed holdup. Below middle Jim Duck-

worth being taken to hospital.

by James Connolly

Wearing dark clothes and) ski masks over their faces, | two) peo- ple entered |the K-Mart depart: ment store last Thursday evening Just at closing time, One of the masked people carried a) 22) cal- iber pistol with! along barrel,|ac- cording to the K-Mart) security manager,

*Don’t anybody) move!) This is a holdup,” yelled the man with the gun according to Nancy Mac- Nevin, checkout supervisor. Mac- Nevin) said, The! security) man- ager was standing behind the service desk, and we were just awestruck, We didn’t know what to do, and he [the armed man| said, ‘Don’t anybody move! Stop looking: at! me or Ill shoot you... Ul sho you in the legs and ri blow ae head Hever

On top of] the) service) desk Were! two cen ves receipt bags for the night.) ber grabbed the) bags! of money and Hi bills from the cashiers’ travel AM

As) hi two thieves ran out of the building, James Duckworth, the manager of K-Mart, ran after them, The armed man ran under the store awning directly towards Belvedere. Avenue while the ac- complice holding the money ran

‘The unarmed | rob+

in| the) direction) of) the) Burger King,

‘As Jim Duckworth got) closer to| the armed man, ithe thief fired several shots,| Duckworth was) hit in| the left shoulder, but continued chasing |the robber,’ Cory) Duck- worth, the manager’s son,) joined the pursuit,’ He) finally tackled the armed robber) in) the parking lot) of |FLR. MacLaine,)At this time, the thief began hitting Jim Duckworth on the head) with the gun.

Bugen |Tomic, a 15) year old who was passing by, helped Duck- worth’s son) get the gun away from the robber, As Tomic stated in a television interview, [We] grabbed a hold) of him,’ held) the arms behind) his head, and) we waited for his [Cory uckwanelel father) to get back up on|his teet, and we took him back over to the main door [of K-Mart] and gave him tothe police.”

Nancy MacNevin) | estimates that the unarmed robber escaped with about $2000. Police recov- ered) some, but not all of this stolen money.

The robber who had carried off the money was apprehended by the police at 3:00am on Friday,

January 20 at her residence.

by James Connolly

Disbelief followed quickly by surprise. That was the gen- eral reaction of UPEI students who were told that the armed robber was 21 year old Glen Charles LaLanne and the un- armed woman was 18 year old Shawn Marie Sutton.

Both robbers were UPEI students staying in residence. LaLanne, a first year science stu- dent lived in a second floor sin- gle room at Marion Hall. Sutton, a freshman arts student, lived in Blanchard hall with two other women. He is from Sydney, Nova Scotia, while she is from Breadal- bane, PEI.

Sutton was arrested at 3:00am last Friday at her residence apartment. Police didn’t find

the stolen money. When they searched LaLanne’s room, they found 4 handguns, a sawed-off shotgun, and 22 rounds of am- munition. Police in Sydney, N.S. had reported the weapons stolen only eight days before the holdup at the K-Mart.

Both are charged with at- tempted murder, using a firearm while committing an indictable offence, and robbery with an of- fensive weapon. LaLanne has fur- ther been charged with possession of a prohibited weapon [the shot- gun], and with possession of an uncertified handgun.

Shawn Sutton was recently described as a “flowerchild” by a residence neighbour. “She burned incense in her room.

Thursday) Wanuary 26)1989

Robbery affects

Students were surprised to learn that the two robbers at K-Mart were going to UPEI. Many were frightened when they learned that LaLanne had a cache of guns in his residence room. “Does this imply lax security?” some students wondered aloud.

One student said, “I found out he lived in Marion. I was pretty scared. And I found out, well, I found out he had guns in his room. I was even more scared.” When asked if she felt there should be more strict se- curity, she said, “I don’t really

Photo by Stephen Bettles

She always wore black. She said she was. interested in astronomy and astrology.” Another student who knew her said that she was an exceptionally talented drawing artist.

Shawn Sutton was a very quiet, smiling person. She spent most of her time alone or with Glen LaLanne. When she lived in Bernardine Hall, she rarely ate at the cafeteria. A for- mer friend who attended Blue- field High School “with Shawn Sutton couldn’t believe that she was capable of the robbery. Sut- ton had broken off ties with her high school friends before coming to UPEI.

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UPEl

know. We’ve never had this kind of problem before.” Does this make her nervous? “A little, but I don’t live in residence.”

A girl living in Bernardine Hall said, “I just kinda wish that they had more security, like check on the rooms: make sure they didn’t have that kinda stuff in the rooms I guess. And even the girl [Sutton], like, the girl was from UPEI too. She could have stayed here. I don’t know. It is scary though.”

A fellow staying in Marion Hall, exactly one floor above LaLanne’s room, was an acquain- tance of both robbery suspects. He said, “Shawn, she’s in my En- glish class. And Glen, like I used to say, ‘Hi’ to him most of the time, but, it surprised me. I re- ally found out this morning [Fri 20 Jan 89]. I just, oh, couldn’t believe it.”

Did he get the impression that they were planning some-

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