Indigenous man streams live video of confrontation at Regina Canadian Tire

A shocking Facebook Live video shows an Indigenous man being confronted and escorted out of a Canadian Tire store in Regina after an employee accused him of stealing.

Kamao Cappo, who says he did nothing wrong, broadcast the incident as it unfolded on Wednesday. The video shows an employee accuse Cappo of trying to steal an item from the store.

“Dude, I’m warning you now, I’ll take the phone away from you,” the employee says in the video posted by Cappo, which has been viewed more than 131,000 times on Facebook.

After an altercation, the employee appears to push Cappo against an aisle.

“Don’t ****ing push me, ***hole,” the employee says, holding Cappo against the aisle.

The customer has handed the footage over to police and says he intends to press charges.

Cappo believes the fact that he is Indigenous played a factor in the employee’s response.

“I am doing that because I want store owners and managers to know that Indigenous people and other people of colours and minorities will be protected,” Cappo said.

“If a white person came in with their work clothes, I don’t believe this would’ve happened at all.”

Cappo has a heart condition and says he suffered injuries from the incident.

Regina Police spokesperson Elizabeth Popowich said the incident will be investigated as an assault and Cappo “will be notified as to the result.”

Canadian Tire apologizes

The incident began when Cappo arrived at the store around 3 p.m. to shop for a new chainsaw. He says he removed a chainsaw from a box to inspect what type of fuel it required. He also picked up an extra chain and some oil from the shelves.

When he reached the cash register, he realized it wasn’t the chainsaw he wanted, so he brought the saw to the customer service desk.

While standing at the desk, he says he placed the chain and oil into the open box.

“We put the items inside the box in full view of their employee, and we only did it so she would have an easier time carrying that box,” he said.

He then went back to the shelves to inspect another chainsaw. That’s when he was confronted by the employee, accused of trying to steal the items and asked to leave the store.

Fallout from the video was swift. Canadian Tire’s head office issued a statement apologizing for the incident.

"We sincerely apologize for the experience that occurred in our store and we are actively reviewing all of the facts surrounding this matter. We are communicating with Mr. Cappo directly, and we hope to resolve this matter as quickly as possible,” said the company in a statement.

A second video of the altercation posted by Cappo, which appears to show the moments after Cappo was pushed, shows the same employee escorting him out of the store and encouraging him to post the video to social media.

“Put it on Facebook. Put it on Facebook … won’t be the first time,” the employee says.

When Cappo tells the employee he plans to press charges, the man says, “Fine. Do that. I’m sure you have a good lawyer.”

Once in the parking lot, the employee yells back at Cappo to “fix the product that you wrecked.”

Cappo replies: “There’s nothing wrecked.”

Police: Threat made against store

The Regina location was closed to customers on Thursday after police say gun threats were made against the store.

Police confirmed that they were investigating a possible connection to the Wednesday incident.

CTV Regina attempted to contact the store directly, but has not received a response.

WARNING: Some readers may find the following videos disturbing.

With files from CTV Regina