Lakewood bank hostage: 'It was the quiet times that were scary'

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- A woman who spent 45 terrifying minutes held hostage inside a Lakewood credit union over the weekend says she was willing to do anything to make it out of the situation alive.

Brielle Eldridge and her mom stopped at the Washington Employees Credit Union on Saturday to run an errand. The 24-year-old was sitting in a cubicle in the back of the bank when she heard a commotion coming from up front.

"We hear it," she said. "It's kind of low at first and then it escalates."

What she and her mom heard was a man and woman arguing. As the argument grew more intense, Eldridge, her mom and the bank employee they were talking to dropped to the ground,.

"And then at one point he said, 'We're not gonna get out of this alive," she said.

But Eldridge said that wasn't the scariest part of the ordeal.

"It was the quiet times that were scary because you really didn't know where he was," she said.

For roughly 45 agonizing minutes, Eldridge did her best to remain calm. She and her mother prayed while attempting to remain hidden from the gunmen behind a cubicle wall.

"He didn't know we were there and everyone ran out so I'm pretty sure he assumed that everyone over there was gone," she said.

During the quiet times she could hear the police outside the bank. At one point she looked through a window and made eye contact with a SWAT team officer.

Then she heard two pops.

"I think that was the most scariest part for us because we didn't know if he shot her or if he shot himself or if he shot a cop," she said.

Moments later she heard she heard police entering the bank and she knew it was all over.

"(They were saying) 'Who's back there?' And then, 'This is the Lakewood police,' and I think that was the best thing you could ever hear," Eldridge said.

While she's incredibly grateful the day ended the way it did, Eldridge was traumatized by what happened to her. She said it's been difficult to sleep or focus, and the scenario keeps replaying in her head.

"No one knows what would have happened or could have happened," she said. "We just know what did happen, and we made it."

Eldridge will start school soon, and she said she wants to be a crime scene investigator. The career was already in the works prior to being held hostage, but she said she's even more determined and inspired to pursue the career now.

The man who was shot was taken to the hospital in critical condition. It's unclear what his condition was on Monday.