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Mistaken identity: Tactical Unit storms city bus for robbery suspect

A dramatic arrest on a city bus at the downtown transit terminal Saturday turned out to have the wrong guy
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The Greater Sudbury Police Tactical Unit made a dramatic arrest on a city bus on Saturday of a man they thought was the suspect in a jewelry store robbery. Turns out, it was a case of mistaken identity. (File)

A Saturday afternoon bus ride didn't go the way one Sudbury man thought it would this past weekend.

On Saturday afternoon at around 3:20 p.m., a man armed with what Greater Sudbury Police said was a stun gun robbed a Paris Street jewelry store, fleeing on foot with the watches police said he demanded the clerk hand over. The clerk was unharmed.

The man was only in the store for a few minutes, police report, and officers were dispatched not long after 3:24 p.m.

It wasn't long before a description of the suspect was put out. The man was described as 6-0 tall with a slim build, possibly Indigenous and wearing aviator-style sunglasses, a black ball cap, a vest with the word "POLICE" on the front, black pants, black boots and gloves.

GSPS received a report that a man matching the description was aboard a Greater Sudbury Transit bus. Police spokesperson Kaitlyn Dunn said police were concerned an armed robber, desperate and trying to flee the scene of a crime was on the bus.

Dunn said the GSPS Tactical Unit was dispatched to make the arrest, and officers were stationed at the downtown bus terminal. Once it pulled into the depot, the tactical unit stormed the bus and arrested what they hoped was the robbery suspect.

Turns out, it was a case of mistaken identity. The man police took into custody was very cooperative, Dunn said, and it wasn't long before he was able to produce an alibi to prove he was nowhere near any jewelry store robbery.

The hunt for the real suspect continues.