Woman Held Hostage During Saanich Bank Shootout Experiences Rollercoaster of Emotions

Shelli Fryer was among 22 people kidnapped during a robbery Tuesday at the Bank of Montreal in Saanich.

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Shelli Fryer was wide awake at 2:54 a.m. on Canada Day and was hoping that the pile of messages that had accumulated over the last few days might help her close her eyes.

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The 59-year-old from Langford, BC, said she has been having trouble sleeping since Tuesday when she was among the hostages during a violent shooting at a bank in Saanich.

The messages that have come in since then, he said, have offered him some of the comfort he was seeking and praised his bravery during the ordeal.

“There’s so much love that I’m getting from all these strangers,” he said in a phone interview. “It’s overwhelming.”

Six police officers were shot and two male suspects were killed in the shootout with police Tuesday outside the Bank of Montreal in Saanich.

Police have said multiple explosive devices were found in a vehicle linked to the two men, who have not yet been identified. Officers are still investigating the possibility of a third suspect.

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Fryer has been replaying the events of Tuesday morning in his mind ever since.

He took his blue Ford Bronco to the bank parking lot for an 11 am appointment with the manager about a loan. A minute or two after sitting in his glass-paneled office, Fryer said they heard a loud bang.

“The manager said ‘we are being robbed.’ He knew right away.”

The 17 women and five men at the branch that day got on the gray floor right away, Fryer said. She described the suspects as wearing all black, including balaclavas, gloves, jackets, vests, bulletproof vests, and pads that covered their calves from the knee down.

A suspect approached the bank manager and told him “vault,” he recalled.

“He stared at me twice. For 20 seconds,” she said. “But I couldn’t see her eyes. He couldn’t see her mouth. I couldn’t see any skin tones at all.”

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The manager tried to hand over the keys, but the suspect pointed to the vault and they left together, leaving Fryer in the room. He waited for the gunslinger to come back for her.

“I think he forgot about me,” he said.

Fryer dropped to the ground and called the police. His phone call log shows that he dialed 911 at 11:04 a.m.

She whispered a description of the situation into the phone, all the while fearing she would draw attention to herself by breaking the “eerie silence” that had descended on the branch, she said.

She left the phone on so 911 operators could hear what was going on, turned down the volume so suspects couldn’t hear if emergency personnel spoke and covered the phone with her long pink skirt so it wouldn’t be visible, she said. .

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For what “seemed like an eternity”, he said there was a “deadly silence”.

Fryer said he felt little fear and no dramatic moments as he hid behind a chair that he doubted offered much protection.

“It was actually more like, ‘I think we’re going to get out of this,'” he said. “I need to call the police here though. I’m going to notify the police. If the police come, it will be fine.”

But then there was a “great hail of gunfire,” he said, gasping at the memory of the impact.

That’s when she ran and hid alone under a shelf in the manager’s office while others took cover in a file room.

Fryer said that while he felt the need to panic with one half of his brain, the other half reminded him to “just breathe.”

“’The worst thing that’s going to happen is those shots are going to go through the drywall and hit you,’” he recalled thinking.

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Fryer’s phone shows his 911 call, and the ordeal lasted one hour, 26 minutes, and five seconds.

While Fryer’s memories of the attack are vivid, he said the rest of the day was spent between interviews with police, arranging to get his car back and finally an Asian meal with his daughter.

The trauma of being a hostage comes in waves, she said. Fryer has spoken with police and victim services about how he feels, saying he has been told it will take time to process what has happened.

“It’s back and forth, you know? It’s like pain. You go through all the stages, right? Sometimes you may never get to the last stage.”

But in quiet moments, Fryer said he more often remembers seeing police come through the bank’s door and hearing their concern for those trapped inside.

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“The first words each and every officer said to us was, ‘I’m sorry this is happening to you.’ Even when they had just come in from the gunfire,” he said. “… And much, much later we learned that six of his comrades-in-arms had been shot and wounded.”

She feels “horrible” and “guilty” because she didn’t think to ask officers if any police officers were injured, she said, even though she and others asked about the well-being of civilians.

“And each and every one of his energy and body language as he walked in and out of the crime scene gave us no reason to even think to ask, ‘Were any officers hurt?’

Const. of the Saanich police chief. Dean Duthie said three of the officers remain in hospital, including one in intensive care, while another will require more surgeries.

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Fryer was born in Chicago and came to Canada when he was seven years old. Her experience with the police last week has made her “very proud” to be Canadian, she said.

Since Tuesday, when he began talking about his experience at the bank, Fryer said that in addition to strangers, he has also received messages from people he knew in another life.

He received an email from his first roommate whom he lived with while working his first job after graduating from high school when he was 18 years old.

“We lived together for eight years and I was a bridesmaid at her wedding. I haven’t seen her since 1989. She held out her hand. Isn’t that fun? she said.

“This is going to change my life in so many ways and I am so grateful now because it could be so cool.”

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Fryer has also been able to find levity, like what to do with the outfit she wore Tuesday at the bank: a long-sleeved shirt, a long pink skirt and pink high-heeled sandals.

“I’m going to throw it away,” he said. “I’ve had it for so long anyway. Or should I frame it. Although I also liked it a lot.”

He even plans to return to the bank, whose employees, he said, showed incredible professionalism under pressure and whose manager he described as unflappable.

“I have to finish my date,” he said between laughs. “I sat for two minutes. They interrupted us.


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