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Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from CTV News:
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/07/22/6228926-sun.html
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2008/07/22/6228926-sun.html
Depraved robbers pepper spray girl
UPDATED: 2008-07-22 02:33:20 MST
Thugs don't spare daughter while attacking hotel owner
By BILL KAUFMANN, SUN MEDIA
While he held his tot daughter, a Strathmore hotelier was sprayed with bear mace and clobbered with a hammer by a pair of brazen robbers yesterday.
At 10:20 a.m., two masked men in bright construction coveralls barged into the Wheatland Inn and doused both Mo Gill and his one-year-old daughter, Simran, with the potent concoction.
Gill was then severely beaten on the head before the robbers stole an undisclosed amount of cash, possibly fleeing through holes cut in a pair of barbed-wire-topped fences behind the hotel to a getaway pickup truck with a waiting driver.
Leaving Strathmore Regional hospital four hours after the assault, a bloodied Gill was helped by another man as he held a large ice pack against the left side of his face.
"It was my daughter, Simran," an emotional Gill, confirming the other victim, said through intense pain.
"I'm going into Calgary to see an eye doctor."
Both men said Gill had been struck with a hammer.
Another family member, Paul, later said both father and daughter were doing well, but Strathmore RCMP Cpl. Patty Neely said the little girl was caught fully in the bear spray discharge.
"They needed saline solution to clear her eyes so it seemed pretty direct," said Neely.
The Mountie expressed particular revulsion over the assault.
"It's troubling to think the presence of a small child wouldn't deter someone from attacking with bear spray," said Neely.
"The child was absolutely, completely undeserving of this."
She said the RCMP station is only two blocks from the hotel.
"It was definitely high-risk ... they had a plan," said Neely.
A hotel restaurant staff member, who didn't want to be identified, heard commotion and screams.
"We're left scared and shocked -- this is absolutely unbelievable," said the employee.
Town manager Dwight Stanford echoed those sentiments.
"We're disappointed someone would spray a child with pepper spray ... this is normally a very safe community and we love it here," he said, adding he doubts the offenders lived in the community, which RCMP say has a considerable transient worker presence.
The culprits' getaway truck is described as dark burgundy-coloured with a crew cab.
One of the suspects had shoulder-length, wavy blond hair.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Strathmore RCMP at 403-934-3968