Kamloops RCMP are looking for a suspect after several employees at Winners in Sahali were bear sprayed by a thief.

It happened on New Year’s Day just after 5 p.m., at the store in the 1100-block of Columbia Street West.

Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet says a man had allegedly been trying to steal clothes when employees confronted him.

She says the man then sprayed the employees before fleeing.

The suspect is described by police as being Caucasian and five-foot-six-inches tall, with a tattoo on his face. He was wearing a grey bucket hat, a red hoodie and baggy black jeans.

Shoihet says police are still waiting to get surveillance footage.

But she asks anyone who has information to contact Kamloops RCMP.

This incident follows a similar scene two months ago in the same shopping centre, where a thief pepper sprayed an employee at Atmosphere after a worker tried to stop that person from stealing clothes.

Police have sent support groups to the retail stores affected, which employ many teenagers and young adults, to help them through the incidents, and to help teach methods for lowering the risk of workplace violence.

NL News has also been told that property managers in the Sahali shopping centre have stepped up to provide a security presence.