When the Cocaine Bandit was active in Winnipeg, he got into multiple shoot outs with armored car guards. He wounded one of them and was also wounded by them on one occasion. This was when they were still using revolvers. He mostly used Rem 870's which he cut down after stealing them from gun shops at gun point.
THE YULETIDE BANDIT: A SEVEN-YEAR SEARCH FOR A SERIAL CRIMINAL (2004)
Winnipeg police dubbed Michael Syrnyk “The Yuletide Bandit” following a series of dramatic, daylight Christmastime robberies in 1998, 1999 and 2000 that left citizens fearing for their safety and police searching for an apparent psychopath. One of Syrnyk’s most notorious shoot-outs occurred during a December 2000 robbery outside Polo Park Shopping Centre, Winnipeg’s busiest mall. Dozens of Christmas shoppers - including senior citizens - dove for cover as bullets flew and glass shattered.
I was a security guard at Polo Park Shopping Centre when this happened, My shift was in the evening that day. So I missed the shoot out by 3 hours. there was a few bullet holes around the front doors & one that passed through the glass & entered the mall. Only the The Yuletide Bandit was hit in the ankle bone that I recall. Note he was wearing body armor that was stolen from the Spy shop.




















































