‘Standing there with an assault rifle’: Hostage describes scene of B.C. bank robbery

Shelli Fryer was one of 22 people who ended up being held hostage in the bank in Saanich, B.C., Tuesday morning when the suspects burst in.

Victoria resident Shelli Fryer had an 11 a.m. appointment with the manager at the Bank of Montreal on Shelbourne Street in Saanich on Tuesday.

She had never been to that particular branch before.

Two minutes after she sat down, the bank was being robbed.

Fryer said they first heard an explosion.

The bank manager stood up and she said she looked over and saw that the tellers were all crouching down.

“(The bank manager) said so calmly, ‘we’re being robbed,'” Fryer said. “And he got a key, and as he got the key, I said, ‘should I get down?’ and he said, ‘just a sec.’ I was going to go by my chair, I was going to crouch by my chair and I look up and in the doorway, there’s a guy standing there with an assault rifle.”

Fryer said the man was wearing a balaclava, a vest, and some guards on his legs and he was just standing there quietly.

“The manager held the key out and (the man) said, ‘vault?’ and the manager tried to give him the key to go,” Fryer added, but the man motioned for the manager to lead him to the vault.