'I was pretty scared for my life,' says witness at Metrotown mall incident
CBC
Recalling the moments he heard of a possible shooter inside a Metrotown mall on Friday afternoon, Thanasaki Chionidis says the experience was traumatic.
"I was pretty scared for my life," he told CBC Vancouver.
"I distinctly started to hear someone saying, 'get down' … and other people saying, 'run, there's a shooter, run.""
Police were called to Metropolis at Metrotown and the nearby SkyTrain station in Burnaby around 3 p.m. after reports of possible shots fired in the mall and an alleged bomb threat at the train station — both of which were evacuated for the police investigation.
"It was just a chaotic scene," he said. "People were just beside themselves. I've never seen something like this before."
Around three hours later, police said the threat that caused the evacuations was unfounded and no evidence of an alleged bomb or shots fired were discovered.
Cpl. Mike Kalanj, media relations officer for Burnaby RCMP, said police are "quite certain" it was an incident of swatting — where fake emergency calls are made to provoke a large response from police.