The sun rose on smashed glass, damaged equipment and ruined meat Thursday morning at Butcher Boy Meats in east Regina.
“At some point in the middle of the night, a vehicle careened off of the road and slammed directly into the building. Panes of glass exploded. (There’s an) incredible amount of damage,” explained Jeff Fritzsche, a co-owner of the shop.
Fritzsche said they were trying to figure out the extent of the damage.
“A lot of equipment (is) damaged, the frame of the building is damaged so there’s some structural damage there — the glass panes … and a lot of meat products, of course,” he said. “Anything with shards of glass on it or debris is garbage.”
He spoke as workers tried to clean and fix what had been ruined — going through food on the ground and in a freezer, stepping around a large freezer that was bent over on one side and crunching over shards of glass on the floor.
“They’ve already done an incredible amount of cleanup in two or three hours and they’ll be ongoing all day. (It’s) really good to have professionals on the scene to help with that,” said Fritzsche.
Fritzsche said it didn’t seem like it was a robbery, but police were still working on it.
In a news release, police said it appeared the vehicle was heading north on Park Street when it crossed the lanes and hit the northwest part of the building.
Police said it doesn’t appear anyone was hurt in the crash and they’re continuing to investigate, including talking to the owner of the vehicle.
Police didn’t know if any charges would be laid.
Fritzsche said he was hoping to be able to open on Friday, though he added that he might have been being optimistic.