'The last thing I would have expected': Rare daylight theft shocks Sherwood Park woman

It was 3 p.m. on a weekday in this parking lot when Eve Bandura's catalytic converter was stolen in the 10 minutes she went into the grocery store. (David Ewasuk/CTV News Edmonton)

A Sherwood Park woman was left shocked and dismayed after a recent high-speed theft in a grocery store parking lot.

Eve Bandura was running into Save-On-Foods for a few things on Monday afternoon after work, parking right near the entrance as usual.

Thanks to the lack of lineups at the tills, she was in and out in less than 10 minutes.

"Upon exiting, I started my car and was greatly surprised at the sudden loud noise it was making," Bandera said.

"It was like starting a diesel truck," she added. "I honestly thought I had broken my car."

She didn't have to sit long wondering what could have happened.

"A gentleman came here and flagged me down and let me know what he had just witnessed," she said.

"Just a couple minutes prior, my catalytic converter had been completely sawed off the bottom of my car."

The man, already on the phone with the RCMP, told Bandura that he wasn't able to stop the theft but he did manage to catch the thieves on camera.

RCMP Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said a Chevrolet Cruze pulled up alongside Bandura's car after she entered the store, someone then hopped out and cut the converter off before hopping back in and driving away.

Thieves typically use loud saws to remove converters, Savinkoff said, but not everyone in the area may have recognized what was happening.

"You don't suspect there's a crime happening right in front of you," he said. "A passerby might initially think it's just someone working on their vehicle in the parking lot, not necessarily something nefarious."

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According to the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), catalytic converter theft costs local residents and businesses millions of dollars each year, with the number of thefts increasing in tandem with the value of precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium.

Vehicle owners can take steps to protect themselves, including having their converter engraved, making it harder to sell and easier to trace. 

"When we execute search warrants and we go into a property and we see 10 catalytic converter converters … we need to prove that those items are stolen," Savinkoff explained. "We can't do that unless we locate an owner, and we can't locate an owner unless the catalytic converter is marked in some way."

Police also recommend parking in spots where thieves can't easily crawl under, such as a garage or a well-lit area, and installing anti-theft devices or shields or welds that make the converter difficult to remove.

All that said, Savinkoff believes what happened to Bandura was so rare that she couldn't have prevented it.

"Ultimately, if suspects are being truly brazen like they are here, there's very little you can do," he said.

Bandura said it was the last thing she would have expected in a busy parking lot in broad daylight.

Because her insurance won't cover replacing the part, she's been put in a tough spot.

"I've had this car for almost 10 years," she said. "It was my high school graduation present … as a student I take it to university, I take it to my part-time job. I rely on it for pretty much everything."

Savinkoff said RCMP are using the images of the thieves to investigate, but Bandura isn't holding out hope.

"The vehicle and the people who did it were obviously long gone, so not much that I expect to happen from this," she said.

For more information on how to protect yourself from catalytic converter theft, visit the Alberta Motor Association website. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk