McDonald's crime-plagued Canadian McDonald’s is set to close

A crime-plagued Canadian McDonald s that gained international notoriety about a decade ago for a viral video of a brawl involving a raccoon is about to close.

The franchise owner of McDonald's on Rideau Street in Ottawa told Insider this month that the location would close and it was a business decision based on the viability of the specific site. Crime was part of the routine routine at the fast-food spot, where police responded to various incidents of drug use and violence.

In 2017 alone, local police responded to McDonald's 900 times, according to Bordeleau, and received 843 calls for police in 2018. He said that police responded to the location seven times a day for two days in a row in April 2019.

Inspector Ken Bryden told CTV News in 2019 that if you have a criminal mind this is a target-rich environment.

It draws thousands of pedestrians a day, and it draws a lot of activity. A brawl broke out in McDonald's in 2014 with video footage of the scene going viral for an unexpected appearance of a raccoon during the fight.

Men hit each other as other patrons line up to order food. In the background, a man pulls a raccoon from his sweatshirt and holds it up, almost as if to show the animal the fight. The man is seen a few seconds later with a cigarette in his mouth and the raccoon seems to have returned to his sweatshirt.

When you come here you're afraid," a resident near McDonald s told CTV in 2019.

I was here about a week and a half ago. Another man, Jack Graham, told CBC News this month that he found a hypodermic needle on the floor of McDonald's. I just felt I was slipping, so I looked at my shoe and there was a needle. The McDonald's has been in business since 1985, according to Insider.

Adeel Hashmi, McDonald's Canada franchisee, told Fox News Digital on Sunday that the exact date of closure is pending. The lease was not renewed and the store will probably close in April, according to CTV News.

As the proud franchisee of multiple McDonald s restaurants in the Ottawa area, our goal is to deliver the best possible experience to our guests every time they visit us, according to Hashmi, a statement provided to Fox by McDonald's Canada.

The statement stated that the closure of our restaurant on 60 George Street is a business decision based on the viability of this particular restaurant. We hope that our guests in the Ottawa region will visit one of our other restaurants. We are pleased that all our managers and crew will continue their employment at one of our other locations in the region. Stateside, McDonald s closed a location on Canal Street in New Orleans earlier this year for a variety of reasons. The company's CEO Chris Kempczinski said in September of last year that crime in Chicago, where the fast-food company is headquartered is making it hard to attract employees.

Kempczinski said that everywhere I go, I'm confronted by the same question. There is a general sense that our city is in crisis.

Kempczinski said that it was more difficult to recruit a new employee to McDonald's in Chicago than it was in the past.