'I could be dead': Security guard shot by 'Yuletide Bandit' frustrated by early parole
Richard Long remembers the moment a bullet screamed by has ear like it was yesterday.
He said he doesn't think about it often anymore. But when the nickname "Yuletide Bandit" is in headlines again, his mind goes back to the moment he could have lost his life during an encounter with Michael Syrnyk.
"I just thank my lucky stars. I mean, I could be dead," said Long.
Long, a retired security guard with Securicor, was exiting the Safeway on Jefferson Avenue near McPhillips Street one Sunday in April 2002. He said he was given the all clear from his partner to walk toward their armoured vehicle, and it wasn't until he heard a loud bang that he knew something was wrong.
"I turned around and he pumped the shotgun and I saw, in slow motion, the cartridge coming out, and then I knew I was in trouble. So I just spun around, drew my weapon and returned fire. By that time he had already loaded [his shotgun] and blasted again," said Long.
Long said the bullet grazed past his right ear and he emptied the six shots from his gun at the heavily armoured Syrnyk.
Long was shot in the back after he ran out of ammunition and said that if it wasn't for the protective vest he was wearing he would have been dead on the spot — leaving his children to grow up without their father, and robbing him of the past 15 years with his family or young grandchildren.
"When you put your uniform on and you put your gun in your holster, there is always a certain amount of risk. Whether you're a police officer or a firefighter, you always want to come home," said Long.
Yuletide Bandit back on Winnipeg streets
Syrnyk was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 21 years and six months for a series of armed robberies, mainly during holiday seasons from 1994 to 2002, which earned him the Yuletide Bandit nickname.
His offences included robbing banks, businesses and armoured trucks at gunpoint.
Following a parole board decision, he was released from federal custody on Friday to a community facility in Winnipeg, where he will be monitored 24 hours a day and be required to report to a parole officer.
Long said he isn't surprised Syrnyk was released early despite pleading guilty to a long list of firearms-related charges and 21 counts of armed robbery.
"Now he's here in Winnipeg, in a halfway house apparently," Long said, adding that he's frustrated by the parole board's decision.
"Well, he got, what was it — 25 years or whatever, and now he's out walking the streets. He's still going to be a young man," said Long.
Long also said being hit in the back after running out of ammunition was a cheap shot.
"You don't shoot a guy in the back," said Long.
Long said he knew Syrnyk was going to get out at some point but he isn't sure the time Syrnyk served does enough for the victims of his crimes.
"I know for certain that there's some bank tellers that could just not go back to work. They just couldn't do it. So there's somebody's livelihood gone," Long said.
"That's the people he should be apologizing to."
