Gunman flees with hostages

Press, 29 August 1979, Page 8

Gunman flees with hostages

NZPA Quebec A gunman fled the scene of a foiled bank robbery in a car with two hostages yesterday after releasing 10 other people he had held captive in a suburban branch of the Provincial Bank of Canada for more than eight hours. The bandit escaped in the bank manager’s car with the manager and a teller after telephone negotiations with the police. Several of the freed hostages were reported suffering from shock. The bank robbery was foiled by Bernard Harvey, a furniture dealer, who said he had entered the bank in Beauport just before closing time. Mr Harvey said the manager had told him in a low voice that the bank was being robbed and he decided he had better leave. He said he had no idea why the gunman let him go, but when he got outside he parked his car in the middle of the street to block the robber’s escape and called the police. Heavily armed provincial and municipal police in bulletproof jackets surrounded the building and sharpshooters were posted on adjacent rooftops and on a hillside across the street. Mr Harvey said the robber had shoulder-length black hair and was between 25 and 30 years old. Police said they believed he had a long criminal record, and he told a radio station in a telephone interview he had committed hold-ups before.