Ashby legion in Cape Breton robbed at gunpoint last week

The Ashby legion in Sydney, N.S., was robbed of several thousand dollars last week by two men brandishing a gun.

"When the robbers came in, they said hit the floor and [people] got on the floor and they had a gun and they jumped over the bar … they got what they wanted," Lowell Crowe, president of Branch 138 of the Royal Canadian Legion, told CBC's Mainstreet Sydney in an interview Tuesday.

Crowe said there were a half-dozen people in the building when the two men entered wearing masks and hoodies on Thursday, Aug. 15. They stole about $4,000. The money supports the operations of the building and veterans in the community.

While Crowe wasn't there to witness what happened, he said he had been at the legion earlier and had only been home for about 10 minutes when someone called to tell him about the robbery.

"Police were here when I got here and they were going through the video, we had our cameras up … the other gentleman was dusting for fingerprints," Crowe said.

More safety precautions coming

Crowe said when he arrived, people who had been at the legion during the robbery were sitting at a table near the office being questioned by police. He said they seemed OK considering what had just happened.

Cape Breton Regional Police are investigating the robbery, but no one from the department was available for an interview with CBC News on Tuesday.

While legions are known to be open and welcoming places, Crowe said they may consider locking up after 7 p.m. and admitting people by way of a buzzer system.

Don McCumber, the president of the Royal Canadian Legion, Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command, said the incident has prompted warnings to other branches to be on the lookout.

"It certainly is a very unfortunate situation and it must have been a very frightening experience for those that were involved and within the premises when it took place," McCumber told CBC News.

"We certainly need to take note of this and make sure our branches are secure and be cautious of what could take place, so I do intend to draft up an all-branch mail-out to 102 branches that we have within our command to notify them of the situation."