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'Everyone was running for their life,' says armed robbery witness

A man with a gun escaped with prescription medicine in the heist; 'It’s still overwhelming and shocking that this even happened,' says witness

Anna Fejzo is still in shock after witnessing a brazen armed robbery at the Shoppers Drug Mart on Westmount Drive Monday night.

Fejzo was in the diaper aisle of the store on Monday night at around 7:45 p.m. while on her way to pick up her son’s medication. While standing in the aisle looking at some products, Fejzo heard an older female shopper say with a trembling voice, 'He has a gun…he has a gun.'

“I just froze, I was trying to process those words at that very moment, and then I just turned around to face the pharmacy, and all of a sudden it was like a herd of animals just rushing down the aisle ... everyone was running for their life,” Fejzo recalls.

“It’s still overwhelming and shocking that this even happened. It felt like a scene out of a movie," she said.

“I didn’t hear any shots or anything when I was in the store, but it felt like I had just been a part of a shooting. My last vivid memory of being in the store was watching a woman scoop up her baby and bolt toward the exit. It felt like everything happened in slow motion,” she said.

When Fejzo was driving home from the incident, four police cars with sirens blaring raced past her. Moments later, she witnessed what was believed to be the getaway car zoom through the Highway 12/Murphy Road intersection.

Fejzo says the fact that the suspect is still at large makes it hard for her to put her mind at ease.

“I’m scared to go into any store now. Is this going to happen in another store? The fact that they got away gives them even more power to not be scared to go ahead and do it again. They know that their plan worked well and they got whatever they needed,” she said.

“I couldn’t sleep at all Monday night, I was having nightmares, I was breaking out in hot sweats, crying, shaking, my whole nervous system went into complete shock. I just keep reliving that memory in my head over and over.”

The 41-year-old mother of three children recently moved her family to Orillia from Scarborough to escape the sometimes dangerous Toronto area.

“I’m new to this city, I’ve been here for two years, and I never expected to be in a place where a robbery is being held, especially at a drug store that early in the evening,” Fejzo said.

The Orillia OPP could not provide any more details on the robbery. Const. Lori Barker said a "quantity" of prescriptions was stolen and confirmed "no progress" had been made in tracking down the suspect.

The manager of the local Shoppers Drug Mart referred comment to the chain's corporate communications department. However, nobody responded to a request for comment in time for publication of this article.


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Tyler Evans

About the Author: Tyler Evans

Tyler Evans got his start in the news business when he was just 15-years-old and now serves as a video producer and reporter with OrilliaMatters
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