MONTREAL – Police are investigating a dramatic armed robbery attempt Friday morning near the downtown Eaton Centre – one that could easily serve as a basis for a traumatizing movie script.
One or two suspects apparently broke through a wall dividing an empty store from a neighbouring currency-exchange centre, burst in on an employee, tied her up, grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash and made a getaway on foot, police said.
“We don’t have many details at this point,” Constable Raphaël Bergeron added.
Police were notified about 8:30 a.m., he said:
“We don’t know if any money was stolen.”
Bergeron added later that it appears likely the robber or robbers got away with at least some loot. But, he noted, this hasn’t been confirmed.
The crime site is the Calforex foreign-currency exchange at 694 Ste. Catherine St. W., east of McGill College Ave.
The adjoining empty store, where the shared wall was used for the surprise entry, is immediately to its west. It carries the sign Catari Ni Shoe Boutique.
Both storefronts are located immediately under a large neon sign trumpeting the SuperSexe strip joint, on the south side of Ste. Catherine W.
The crime scene remained blocked off with police tape at mid-day.
The robbery was carried out by “one or two suspects,” Bergeron said.
“One employee was tied up,” he added.
A woman in her 30s, she “is in a state of nervous shock.”
“She isn’t even able to tell us if it was one or two” who burst in on her.
“She hasn’t been able to give us any description.”
The woman suffered no obvious physical injuries, he said.
The investigation continues, with a police crime-identification truck on the scene.
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