Violin shop robbed in aggressive pepper spray attack

25 September 2019, 13:48

Last weekend, a man stole four violins from a music shop in Minnesota after attacking the shop assistant with pepper spray.

A violin shop in Minnesota was robbed last Saturday (21 September), in what the shop assistant has described as an “evil” attack.

According to the St Paul Pioneer Press, the attacker blinded the shop assistant with pepper spray, before walking off with four expensive violins: a 1911 French ‘Vatelor’ violin and three ‘Andrew Fein’ contemporary violins

Andrew Fein, the owner of the Fein Violins shop in Minnesota, said the man originally showed interest in purchasing a violin.

But as he continued to discuss violins with the shop assistant, he pulled out a can of pepper spray which he sprayed into the shop assistant’s face.

Shortly after the attack, he swiped the four violins and drove off.

Speaking about the incident on social media, Andrew said: “We were robbed yesterday. Getting robbed sucks. But the blessings of an outpouring of love and support from clients, neighbours, and friends trumps the evil acts of yesterday.”

He added: “My employee that was pepper spayed is doing OK. No lasting physical harm. Police and paramedics showed up just minutes after she called 911.

“She’s a very smart, talented, and internally strong young woman. I’m blessed to have her and all my other employees as partners in our business.”

According to a local news source, one of the instruments has already been recovered after someone tried to sell it to a business – but the other three are still missing.