Louise Lu was getting her colour done when a pickup truck crashed into the hair salon she frequents in Richmond Hill early Friday morning.
She told Global News that, at first, she thought it might have been a bomb, then she thought someone might have deliberately driven into the salon.
“All of these things go on in your head, and after Barcelona, people are seeing this and you just never know,” Lu said referencing the terrorist attacks in Spain, that left at least 13 dead and over 100 injured on Thursday.
“We just heard a very loud explosion of glass — we thought a mirror had collapsed at first … we thought it was a bomb, we thought it was an attack.”
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After the truck crashed into the salon, Lu said her and another woman were stuck in a corner and weren’t sure where to go. She said her stylist helped lead them out the back.
She had been running late getting to the salon, but had she been on time, Lu said she would have been sitting in the path of the truck.
“It’s a little bit surreal right now,” she said. “I’m just grateful everyone seems to be okay, it could have been so much worse than it was.”
York regional police Const. Laura Nicolle said police received a number of calls about the crash at the Hillcrest Mall at around 10:30 a.m.
She said the driver of the vehicle may have suffered a medical episode before the crash.
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York region paramedics said three people were taken to hospital. All are said to be suffering from minor injuries.
Eleanor Cumiskey, another customer in the salon at the time, told Global News there was a moment of complete silence in the aftermath, as everybody tried to figure out what was going on.
“It was pandemonium and people were just completely shocked,” she said.
“We had no idea what it was, within a couple of seconds we saw debris and glass everywhere, and this truck was in the reception area, two seats over from where we were sitting.”
“I’m just glad I’m alive,” Cumiskey said.
—With files from The Canadian Press and Catherine McDonald
—With files from The Canadian Press
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