“Do it now.”
That was what a member of the RCMP Emergency Response Team yelled at a man to come out of a bathroom at the Black Creek Gas N Go station on Thursday evening.
“If you don’t do what we ask you’re going to get hurt,” repeated the ERT member. “We don’t want that. We don’t want to hurt you.”
The incident happened after 7:30 p.m. The man, who was wearing camouflage pants, jacket and hat, had parked outside the store then walked inside and asked if he could use the washroom.
“And I said well the key’s at the end of the counter and the bathroom is over by the pumps and he left and we didn’t think anything of it,” said employee Danielle Dumont.
He then went into the washroom,which has a door facing outside by the pumps and unbeknownst to him, an RCMP tactical team flooded the area outside.
Another witness who does not want to be identified could be heard on a video he provided to CHEK News saying, “Ten cops, heavy tactical gear, guns drawn, thunder flash thrown inside, tear gas, they’re threatening to bring in a dog.”
Meanwhile police were telling workers to stay inside the store.
“Well we were inside so we were OK but yeah it was a little bit nerve-wracking,” said employee Katalin Fekete.
“There was a guy inside the bathroom with a gun and they used a flash grenade to capture him,” said Ashish Goshi, who also works at the store.”
“Put your hands down on the ground, get on your stomach,” ERT members could be heard yelling outside the store as the man opened the bathroom door and came out.
The man eventually surrendered to the police and an officer later confirmed to workers that he did have a gun.
On Friday, police weren’t saying what led up to the arrest, only that one person remains in custody.
Police told employes that they’d had the guy under surveillance for quite some time before moving in on him last night.
An RCMP spokesperson says more information will be made available on Tuesday.
Dean Stoltz
