EDMONTON — The owner of an Edmonton pawnshop who was the subject of a documentary is recovering after being attacked with a hatchet in his store.
Police were called to A1 Trading after customers reported seeing David Woolfson, 75, badly beaten on the ground behind the shop’s counter.
Detectives believe Woolfson was assaulted with a hatchet located in the shop.
Woolfson suffered significant injuries to his head and upper body, but has been released from hospital and is being cared for at home by his family.
Rosie Dransfeld spent months in Woolfson’s pawnshop researching and filming a documentary about him and his customers entitled “Broke.”
Dransfeld says Woolfson, who has run the pawnshop for 16 years, is someone who deeply cared for his clients.
“What it shows is a high level of desperation...so to go there and to do this, this person must have been very desperate,” Dransfeld said.
Security cameras are located in the store, but police say they weren’t functioning at the time of the assault.
“I’m confident that because it occurred during the daytime hours that someone may have witnessed a suspect fleeing the premises or observed other suspicious activity,” said Det. Rob Paton.
An undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry was taken in the incident.