Edmonton police are on the hunt for a suspect in connection with a vicious attack on a 75-year-old Edmonton pawnshop owner Monday.

Officers were called to the shop, A1 Trading, located at 95 Street and 111 Avenue, around 4 p.m. after some customers reported seeing the man badly beaten on the ground behind the shop's counter.

Detectives believe the man was assaulted with a hatchet that was located in the shop. He suffered significant injuries to his head and upper body.

The man has been released from hospital and is being cared for by family members. A locally produced film, titled "Broke", documents the life of David Woolfson, a man who calls himself "the friendly pawn broker". Rosie Dransfeld spent months in Woolfson's pawnshop researching and filming the documentary.

Dransfeld says Woolfson 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."

Security cameras are located in the store, but police reveal 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 Edmonton police robbery detective Rob Paton.

An undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry was taken in the incident.

If anyone has information that can assist police they are asked to call the complaints line at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

With files from Erin Isfeld