By Gazette Staff
May 21st, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
A Gazette reader sent us the following:
Last Friday evening, May 15, my grandson was walking along Brant Street across from the No Frills Plaza at around 9:30 PM. There was a group of about 20 male teenagers surrounding a Tesla that was waiting for the red light to change.
They opened the car door and were attempting to pull the man out of the car.
Halton Regional Police delegating to city Council on how they were policing the city.
My grandson called me to tell me what was happening. I told him to get away from there as soon as possible and to call 911. I don’t know if he called because he was concerned that they would come after him if they knew he had called.
He went home, got his car and circled the area. These same teenagers were riding all around the streets on bicycles and later he saw police cars as well.
He could not believe that this was happening in Burlington.
I have to admit that I had not expected this type of behaviour in downtown Burlington (Ward 2)
Once there was a police station in Burlington. Perhaps it is time to have a permanent police station in this area again. With all the new construction and increase in residents this should be considered.
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Thanks for making us aware of this. I did see the 3 police cars in the No Frills parking lot around that time, which I had presumed was to prevent a group of youth gathering with their modified vehicles, as they sometimes do. I’m not sure if that was related to the above incident.
There was also an attempted break-in downtown around the same time, though that may have been targetted (not random) and unrelated. Police were responding.
On an evening last weekend around 9:30pm, there were a bunch of youth hanging around the corner of Elizabeth St & Pine St. When I was approaching the intersection in my vehicle slowly, the youth decided to suddenly jump out in the street and cross in front of my vehicle, about 10′ before the stop sign and crosswalk, so I hit the brakes. This wasn’t a miscalculation on their part, it was intentional to have a little fun on a night out; they looked at me and laughed like it was a big joke as they passed only inches from the front of my car. If I had hit them with my vehicle, I may have been considered at-fault.
1 week ago, 3 young males took 3 of the Scooty e-scooters up Brant St. around 12:30am until they ran out of power and abandoned them, then proceeded to tip over a construction sign and snoop around Brant St. storefronts as they walked back. The Police and City were notified. (Scooties are only supposed to be able to be ridden on the Centennial pathway).
2 weeks ago, the super-large planter pots were tipped over at Caroline & John St. in late evening. Several large recycling carts and garbage carts have also been tipped over and thrown into the street on garbage nights recently, which residents have had to clean up (it was not the wind).
A good reminder from the article above: keep your doors locked when driving. You never know when someone may try to get into your vehicle, either as a joke, a carjacking attempt, or due to road rage if they think you’ve slighted them (which I’ve also seen elsewhere in the past). Locking your car doors when you leave your driveway is just smart, and also saves you from having to do it later when you are suspicious of someone and they may hear you locking your doors then (which may be offensive to the person if aren’t really a threat). Also, for those who missed the news article last summer, there was serious carjacking in north Burlington in June 2025, around 5:30pm during the late afternoon commute. Police eventually apprehended the 2 suspects.
Burlington is not insulated from crime — we don’t have to be paranoid about it, just take wise precautions. As the police will tell you, there are also gang members and members of organized crime (sometimes from other parts of the world) passing through Burlington periodically. Some intentionally look for lower-crime, well-off communities that have their guard down, to take advantage of.