Campbell removed from gun risk by RCMP security

BC Liberal Leader Gordon Campbell was whisked away by his RCMP security detail after being caught too close to a fleeing armed robbery suspect on Monday.

Campbell was giving interviews to journalists at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Downtown Vancouver at around 5 p.m., when a female suspect allegedly carrying a handgun ran past outside the hotel.

The incident occurred just after the robbery of the nearby Monte Cristo jewelry store on West Hastings Street.

Although Campbell was not being targeted, he was moved to another part of the hotel as a precaution, police said.

The Liberal Leader is the only provincial party leader in the 2009 election race to have RCMP security shadowing him on the campaign trail.

"He said 'there's a person with a gun, go back there.' You know when I hear that I pretty much do exactly what they tell me to," Campbell said.

The robbery suspect ran past the hotel toward Waterfront SkyTrain Station where she got into a taxi, allegedly pointed the gun at the driver and ordered him to drive.

Vancouver police stopped the cab at Thurlow St. and West Cordova St., where the woman was arrested.

A handgun was recovered, but the bag of merchandise disappeared with a male accomplice who ran in the opposite direction, according to police. He has not yet been caught.

Investigators are looking for an aboriginal man in his 20s, 5'9" to 6' tall, with a slim build. He has orange or red dyed short hair with patches of brown, and was wearing a dark long-sleeved dress shirt with dark stripes, and black pants with black dress shoes.

There was one customer in the store at the time of the robbery, but no one was injured. No details on what was taken have been released.

This is the second time in less than two years that the high-end Vancouver jeweller has been robbed.

Thousands of dollars in merchandise was taken from Monte Cristo's Oakridge Centre location in a November 2007 heist. During the robbery two men ordered employees to load tens of thousands of dollars in Rolex watches into a bag.

The owners of Monte Cristo jewelry have told CTV News their security guards should be allowed to carry guns.

Attorney-General Wally Oppal said in an interview Tuesday he is considering changing B.C.'s laws to allow certain types of security guards to carry guns.

The number of jewelry store robberies has more than doubled in 2009 -- to nine. By May 2008, there had been just four, according to the Vancouver Police Department.

With reports by St. John Alexander and Shannon Paterson.