West Vancouver police say an attempted robbery was at the heart of an evacuation at the Park Royal South Mall Wednesday evening.
At the time of of the evacuation, police took to Twitter saying they were responding to a suspicious package, and later that they had deployed a bomb squad.
In an update Thursday, police said they had been called to a robbery in progress at the CIBC in the mall.
“A male had presented a note to bank staff demanding cash and threatening to detonate an explosive device inside his backpack,” police said in a media release.
Police arrested the suspect exiting the bank, but then cleared the area due to concern about possible explosives.
An RCMP explosive disposal unit later determined that there was no bomb.
Investigators say Glen Edwin Brown, a 52-year-old man of no fixed address, has been charged with robbery and released on conditions.