Woman held hostage during Saanich bank shooting experiencing roller-coaster of emotions

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Shelli Fryer was conscious at 2:54 on Canada Day and hoped the stack of messages piling up in current days may assist her shut her eyes.

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The 59-year-old Langford, B.C., lady mentioned she’s been having hassle sleeping since Tuesday when she was amongst these held hostage throughout a violent financial institution taking pictures in Saanich.

The messages pouring in since then, she mentioned, have provided among the consolation she’s sought and counseled her bravery through the ordeal.

“There may be simply a lot love I’m getting from all these strangers,” she mentioned in a phone interview. “It’s overwhelming.”

Six officers had been shot and 22-year-old twin brothers recognized as Mathew and Isaac Auchterlonie from Duncan, B.C., had been killed within the shootout with police on Tuesday outdoors the Financial institution of Montreal in Saanich.

Police have mentioned a number of explosive units had been present in a automobile linked to the 2 males, who’ve but to be recognized. Officers are nonetheless investigating the potential of a 3rd suspect.

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Fryer has been mentally replaying Tuesday morning’s occasions ever since.

She pulled her blue Ford Bronco into the financial institution’s car parking zone for an 11 a.m. appointment with the supervisor a few mortgage. Inside a minute or two of sitting down in his glass-panelled workplace, Fryer mentioned they heard a loud growth.

“The supervisor mentioned ‘we’re being robbed’. He knew immediately.”

The 17 ladies and 5 males within the department that day all bought on the gray flooring instantly, Fryer mentioned. She described the suspects as sporting all black together with balaclavas, gloves, jackets, vests, physique armour and pads protecting the calves from the knee down.

One suspect got here as much as the financial institution supervisor and mentioned “vault,” she recalled.

“He stared proper at me twice. For 20 seconds,” she mentioned. “However I couldn’t see his eyes. I couldn’t see his mouth. I couldn’t see any pores and skin tone in anyway.”

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The supervisor tried at hand over the keys however the suspect pointed towards the vault and so they walked off collectively, leaving Fryer within the room. She waited for the gunman to return again for her.

“I believe he forgot about me,” she mentioned.

Fryer bought down on the ground and known as the police. Her telephone’s name log exhibits she dialed 911 at 11:04 a.m.

She whispered an outline of the state of affairs into the telephone, fearing all of the whereas she’d draw consideration to herself by breaking the “eerie silence” that had descended on the department, she mentioned.

She left the telephone on so the 911 operators may hear what was happening, turned down the quantity so the suspects couldn’t hear if emergency personnel spoke and lined the telephone together with her lengthy pink skirt so it wouldn’t be seen, she mentioned.

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For what “felt like an eternity,” she mentioned there was “useless silence.”

Fryer mentioned she felt little worry and skilled no dramatic moments as she hid behind a chair she doubted provided a lot safety.

“It was really extra like, ‘I believe we’re gonna get out of this,”’ she mentioned. “I must get the police although right here. I’m simply gonna let the police know. If the police get right here, it is going to be OK.”

However then an “almighty hail of gunfire” rang out, she mentioned, gasping on the remembered shock.

That’s when she ran and hid alone beneath a shelf within the supervisor’s workplace whereas others took shelter in a submitting room.

Fryer mentioned that whereas she felt the urge to panic with one half of her mind, the opposite half was reminding her to “simply breathe.”

“‘The worst factor that’s going to occur is, these pictures will go proper by means of the drywall and also you’re going to be hit,”’ she remembered pondering.

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Fryer’s telephone exhibits her name with 911, and the ordeal, lasted one hour, 26 minutes and 5 seconds.

Whereas Fryer’s recollections of the assault are sharp, she mentioned the remainder of the day handed in a blur of police interviews, preparations to retrieve her automobile and at last a meal of Asian meals together with her daughter.

The trauma of being held hostage is available in waves, she mentioned. Fryer has spoken with police and sufferer companies about how she feels, and he or she mentioned she’s been advised it should take time to course of what she’s been by means of.

“It’s forwards and backwards, you realize? It’s like grief. You undergo the entire phases, proper? Generally it’s possible you’ll by no means hit the final stage.”

However within the quiet moments, Fryer mentioned she most frequently remembers seeing police stroll by means of the financial institution door and listening to their concern for these trapped inside.

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“The primary phrases each officer mentioned to us was, ‘I’m sorry that is occurring to you.’ Even once they simply got here in from the gunfire,” she mentioned. “… And far, a lot later we discover out that six of their brothers-in-arms had been shot and injured.”

She feels “horrible” and “responsible” as a result of she didn’t take into consideration asking the officers whether or not any police had been injured, she mentioned, although she and others inquired after the welfare of civilians.

“And each considered one of their vitality and physique language strolling out and in of the crime scene didn’t give us any purpose to even assume to ask, ‘had been any officers injured?”’

Saanich police Chief Const. Dean Duthie mentioned three of the officers stay in hospital, together with one in intensive care, whereas one other would require extra surgical procedures.

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Fryer was born in Chicago and got here to Canada when she was seven. Her expertise with the police final week has made her really feel “further proud” to be Canadian, she mentioned.

Since Tuesday when she began speaking about her expertise on the financial institution, Fryer mentioned aside from strangers she’s additionally bought messages from individuals whom she knew in one other lifetime.

She bought an electronic mail from her first roommate with whom she lived whereas working her first job after graduating highschool when she was 18.

“We lived collectively for like eight years, and I used to be a bridesmaid at her marriage ceremony. I haven’t seen her since 1989. She reached out. Isn’t that humorous?” she mentioned.

“That is going to be life altering in some ways for me and I’m very grateful now as a result of it may very well be very cool.”

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Fryer has additionally been capable of finding levity — corresponding to what to do with the outfit she was sporting on Tuesday on the financial institution — an extended sleeve shirt, pink maxi skirt and pink high-heeled sandals.

“I’m going to throw it out,” she mentioned. “I’ve had it for therefore lengthy anyway. Or I ought to body it. I actually favored it too, although.”

She even plans to return to the financial institution, whose workers she mentioned confirmed unbelievable professionalism beneath duress and whose supervisor she described as unflappable.

“I’ve to complete my appointment,” she mentioned with fun. “I sat down for 2 minutes. We bought interrupted.”

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