MONCTON - The population of Amherst got a little bigger on Thursday night.
Lucien Pomar, who owns Vintner's Cellar on Mountain Road, left the city with his wife, son and daughter to stay at an Amherst hotel.
"We were really worried so we decided to get out of the city and go to Amherst," Pomar said.
Pomar and other businesses in the locked down area remained closed Thursday as most of Moncton resembled a ghost town after the fatal shooting of three police officers in north-end Moncton.
The suspect, 24-year-old Justin Bourque, was apprehended just after midnight just a few streets from where the shootings occurred.
Pomar is not sure of his losses but admitted it's not as significant as the lives of three police officers.
"I took a loss because Thursday is normally very busy here," he said. "I know I'll never make that back but it's minor when you consider three police officers lost their lives.
Pomar and his son were at the YMCA taking a karate class when the incident happened. His wife and daughter were home.
"My wife heard a gunshot and then another. We were stuck at the YMCA and it took us a whole to get home."
Fahed Douami was manning his pizza shop, Freddie's Pizza, on Wednesday night when he saw police cars and officers working around Mountain Road and Wheeler Boulevard.
He is shaken by what happened since he knows a lot of police officers.
"It has been a difficult few days," he said. "Everyone was so scared. It was not knowing what was happening."
Douami said his wife was out on their home's deck when she heard the gunfire.
"She didn't know what it was," Douami said. "She thought it was a BB gun or firecrackers at first, then a neighbour yelled to get inside because someone had been shot."
Douami says he lost $3,000 in business between late Wednesday and Thursday.
"That's money I'll never be able to get back and I doubt I can get it from insurance. We're still fighting to get the money we lost when the lights were out in the big storm last winter," Douami said.
Traffic was heavy Friday along the Mountain Road business area as some sense of normalcy returned.
Parking lots at the nearby Northwest Plaza and Trinity shopping complex were busy.
Twitter: @ADNdarrell
