'The only thing you could see were his eyes': Employees pepper sprayed at south London business

Pepper sprayed Police investigating after masked man entered Middle Eastern grocery store and sprayed two employees. CTV London's Gerry Dewan has details.

London police are hoping the public can help identify a person wanted as part of an assault investigation.

The owner of Mona’s Fine Meats believes a 'noxious substance' attack was targeted to a specific individual, but others were impacted.

Employees of a south London business were hit with a direct blast from a pepper spray canister late Thursday afternoon.

Surveillance video shows an employee of Mona's Fine Meats working behind the meat counter of the business when someone approaches from behind and unloads the pepper spray directly at his face.

Mona’s is in a plaza at 699 Wilkins Street, just west of Wellington Road.

Owner Ramadan Naghmoush had left the business minutes before the incident and was called back.

He checked on the employees and customers and then began reviewing the video.

"He came in (face) covered. The only thing you could see were his eyes," he said.

Mona's specializes in halal meats and other items geared to followers of Islam.

Naghmoush is convinced that the attack was targeted at an individual employee and doesn't believe it was a religiously or culturally hate-based incident.

"This guy, he just came for, maybe, a specific target,” said Naghmoush.

“He didn't look at the cashier or anyone else, just in and out."

A cashier followed the suspect and tried to grab him, and at that point, she was also sprayed.

The surveillance video showed her in obvious discomfort as she returned to the storefront.

Both victims were taken to hospital for treatment. Police arrived shortly after the assaults.

Staff from Mona’s said they checked surveillance video from other businesses in the plaza but couldn't see the suspect.

Naghmoush said it's apparent that after entering the business, the suspect took a path that would allow him to get to the back of the store mostly undetected.

The surveillance cameras showed him reaching for the canister as he goes behind the meat counter.

Naghmoush said he doesn't want to engage in speculation that may impact the police investigation.

"We’ll leave it in the police's hand to figure it out. I'm sure they will," he said.

No other staff members or customers were directly impacted by the spray.

The incident happened around 4:30 p.m. and the store, which is usually open until 9 p.m., had to close for the day.

London police have released images of the suspect, who is described as male, white, approximately 6 feet tall, wearing black pants, black shoes, a black sweater, black balaclava and what appeared to be a pair of safety glasses.