Article author:
Canadian news agency
Hina Alam
Shelli Fryer wakes up at 2:54 on Canada Day and hopes that recently piled up messages will help him close his eyes. I was there.
A 59-year-old woman in Langford, British Columbia, said she had sleep problems since Tuesday when she was taken hostage by a violent bank shooting in Saanich.
She said the messages that have been flowing since then provided some of her comfort she was looking for and praised her courage during her trials.
"There is so much love I get from all these strangers," she said in her telephone interview. "It's overwhelming."
On Tuesday, six police officers were shot dead and two male suspects killed in a gun battle with police outside the Bank of Montreal in Saanich. Was done.
Police said multiple explosive devices were found in a vehicle linked to two unidentified men. Officers are still investigating the possibility of a third suspect.
Since then, the flyer has been mentally replaying the event on Tuesday morning.
She pulled the blue Ford Bronco into the bank parking lot for an 11am appointment with the manager about her loan. Within a minute or two of sitting in the glass office, she said the fryer heard a big boom.
"The manager said,'We are robbed.'" He knew immediately.
All 17 women and 5 men in the branch of the day soon reached the gray floor, Flyer said. She described the suspect as wearing a balaclava, gloves, a jacket, a vest, a bulletproof vest, and a pad that covers her knees and calves, all in black.
She remembered that a suspect came to the bank manager and said she was a "vault."
"He was staring at me twice. 20 seconds," she said. "But I couldn't see his eyes. I couldn't see his mouth. I couldn't see the color of my skin at all."
The manager tried to hand over the key. The suspect pointed to the safe and left the flyer in the room and left with him. She waited for the shooter to come back for her.
"I think he forgot about me," she said.
The flyer went down to the floor and called the police. Call logs on her phone show that she dialed 911 at 11:04 am.
She whispered an explanation of the situation on her phone. She went down on a branch, she said.
She keeps the phone on so that the 911 operator can hear what's going on, turn down the volume, and the rescuer speaks the phone. , Made the suspect inaudible if she covered her long phone. She said she couldn't see it because it was a pink skirt.
She said there was "complete silence" because "she felt like eternity".
The flyer said she felt little fear and she didn't experience dramatic moments when she hid behind her chair, which she didn't think would provide much protection. She said.
"In reality, it was like,'I think I'm going to get out of it,'" she said. "I need to hire the police here. I'll let the police know. It's okay if the police come here."
But then the "omnipotent gunshot" rang and memorable shocks While gasping, she said.
At that time, she ran and hid alone under the shelves in the manager's office, while others evacuated to the filing room.
She reminds her that half of her brain "just breathes" while feeling the urge to panic in half of her brain. Said.
"The worst thing that could happen is that those shots go through drywall and you get hit," she recalled.
The flyer's phone showed a call to 911, and the trial lasted 1 hour 26 minutes 5 seconds.
The memory of the fryer's attack was sharp, but she had a police interview, arranged to retrieve her car, and finally the ambiguity of an Asian meal with her daughter. He said the rest of the day had passed.
She said the trauma of being held hostage is riding the waves. She said the flyer was discussing her feelings with her police and victim services, and she was told that it would take time for her to handle what she had experienced.
"It's back and forth. It's like sadness. You go through all stages. Sometimes you don't reach the final stage."
But in a quiet moment, Flyer said he best remembers seeing police pass through a bank door and hearing their concerns about those trapped inside.
"The first word all officers told us was," I'm sorry, this is what's happening to you. "Even when they're just out of the shootout," she says. rice field. "... And long after, it turned out that six of their arm brothers were shot and injured."
She told police officers if the police were injured. She said she felt "terrifying" and "guilty" because she wasn't thinking about asking.
"And all of their energy and body language in and out of the crime scene gave us no reason to even ask."'
Saanich Police Chief Const. Dean Duthie said three officers were hospitalized, including one in the intensive care unit, but another needed more surgery.
Flyer was born in Chicago and came to Canada at the age of seven. Her experience with police last week made her feel "very proud" of being Canadian, she said.
Since she started talking about her experience at her bank on Tuesday, the flyer has received messages from people she knew in another lifetime, apart from her strangers. She said.
She received an email from her first roommate who lived with her when she was doing her first job after graduating from high school at the age of 18.
"We were bridesmaids at her wedding for eight years. I haven't seen her since 1989. She reached out. It's not interesting, "she said.
"This will change my life in many ways, and I'm very grateful now because it can be so cool."
Flyer Also found ups and downs such as long-sleeved shirts, pink maxi skirts, and pink high-heeled sandals, such as what to do with the clothes you wore at the bank on Tuesday.
"I'm going to throw it away," she said. "I had it for a long time anyway, or I need to assemble it, but I really like it too."
She even plans to return to the bank and its employees Was forced to show incredible professionalism and said the manager couldn't fly.
"I have to finish my promise," she said with a laugh. "I sat for two minutes. It was interrupted."
This report by Canadian Press was first published on July 2, 2022.