Article content continued

Shore also disclosed that he was hoping to rebuild the eagle statue and welcomed the assistance of any gold and/or diamond-mining companies. As to why he was carrying such a precious cargo in a backpack, Shore said it was the advice he had been given by “numerous police departments,” including the FBI. He also addressed what some may perceive as a small reward amount for such a valuable object.

“After putting everything I own, including the mortgage of my house, into this eagle, I have very little money left over,” he said. “And that’s the amount I am able to offer at this time, and even that money has to be borrowed.”

Encrusted with over 700 diamonds, weighing 18 pounds and featuring a 400-year-old Atocha emerald, Shore had the solid-gold eagle commissioned in 2009 as part of a breast-cancer fundraising campaign he launched after his sister-in-law succumbed to the disease. At the time of its theft, the eagle was on sale for $5 million, the proceeds of which were to help fund his vision of holding an annual cancer fundraising concert.

On Thursday, he said he would still like to fulfil this vision and reached out to the music industry, hoping promoters and/or artists might be interested in becoming involved.

“Ideally, I’d like to have a breast-cancer benefit concert in Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York and Toronto in an effort to raise, hopefully, in the neighbourhood of over 10 million (dollars) a year, for the purpose of breast-cancer research and early detection,” he said. “It would mean so much to me and my family if we can carry on my vision of being able to make a difference for breast-cancer research.”

As part of the probe, Cooper said police have interviewed “numerous witnesses” and reviewed hours of video surveillance. The one suspect who attacked Shore fled in an SUV, possibly a GMC Yukon, while another suspect was seen fleeing in a red- or burgundy-coloured SUV that resembled a Hyundai Santa Fe.

While Shore was in the company of a security person at the time of the theft, Cooper said the guard was “not in an area that was effective at the particular moment when Mr. Shore was ambushed.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Delta police at 604-946-4411.