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THEPILL · 05-04-2010, 04:36 PM

I was at a Bank of America Yesterday afternoon. All 4 tellers were busy. I was second in line. The Teller to my far right just finished with a "customer" ans I saw the panicked look on her face. The lady in front of me didn't notice her look and started towards the teller. The teller then told the woman<in front of me,next in line> to STOP!! I then looked towards the door, the person exiting the bank and he/she went to the left out the door. The teller then shouted for the manager to come over. He did. Then the manger told another lady to lock the door. Over like that. No gun. Nothing...Half the of the other tellers,customers, employees never knew until way after the door was locked. I couldn't even positivly verify if it was a man or a woman...Nothing. I then walked over made my deposit and asked the new teller did you see that? She said what <as she was doing my deposit>? The robbery. She wasn't aware either. I was the last transaction that day. So I proceed to the door to leave, which I knew was gonna be difficult. I had things to do and REALLY could not have been any help at all. the Manager asked me to give my name and phone number. I left my business card and off I went. I got a call about 2 hours later from a Detective and told him my story and he said thanks. That was it.

It was a normal day for me. Noone knew. Even the Teller next to her....I still feel guilty for letting my guard down. I'm better than that, I thought. I was on my motorcycle and no Gun. One of the few times I don't carry.It was hot yesterday and no jacket and no easy way to conceal.

I would not have drawn my weapon ,if I had it with me, unless there was an immediate threat o my life, or I felt as such. What I mean by my guard being down is...Not more aware of my surroundings.

I would have acted the same carrying or not.

Just thought I'd share.

Shane

FlashSilver · 05-04-2010, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by THEPILL

.I still feel guilty for letting my guard down. I'm better than that, I thought. I was on my motorcycle and no Gun. One of the few times I don't carry.It was hot yesterday and no jacket and no easy way to conceal.

Just thought I'd share.

Shane

What would you have done if you had your weapon with you? Would you have drawn it, shot the robber, or tried to stop him?

No one was hurt. I think the outcome was about as good as it gets given the crime that was committed. I, too, have a carry permit, but I have never drawn my weapon and hope I never have to. I will only draw it if I am directly threatened, or if someone close by is threatened and there is no other recourse to save a life. There are only two kinds of problems, and the bank losing its money to a robber is not one of them. Don't beat yourself up, sometimes doing nothing is exactly the right thing to do.

THEPILL · 05-04-2010, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlashSilver

What would you have done if you had your weapon with you? Would you have drawn it, shot the robber, or tried to stop him?

.

NO!!!!. I was sharing an expierence. The what if's start... What if he ran back in the bank <he saw a cop walking in>. Then a hostage situation. Just saying I wish I was carrying. I'm not stupid, nor was I in fear for my life.Or anyone elses for that matter.

Shane

enduroryda · 05-04-2010, 05:06 PM

Man that's crazy! No one was hurt ...that's a good thing. I know you must have felt vulnerable without your weapon...things happen for a reason. Not many of us will ever be put into that situation. Any normal human being will have to deal with the what if's and the scenarios...it's normal and there is nothing you can do about it just thank God no one was hurt. Thanks for sharing your story and glad you are safe.

THEPILL · 05-04-2010, 05:14 PM

Bank of America-Arlington : Texas Bank Robbery Suspects

arcamedies · 05-04-2010, 05:17 PM

What a precarious situation, the teller did well, they're told to remain calm the robber's adrenaline is at mach 9 already and give up the money it's insured, the manager did well too, as soon as notified they locked the door so the robber couldn't come back running from someone and take a hostage.

I was at a WalMart and my honey and I were putting the stuff in the trunk when out of nowhere a guy showed up at her side inches away from her but away from me asking for a handout, didn't see him and I felt stupid letting my guard down in a parking lot. We never saw him coming, surprised me how he slipped down the drivers side of the car and blip, there he was, ya never know.

If more people carried guns we may have less problems, but who knows. I will suggest "ankle holster" with extra long jeans ;O).

Melody Ranch · 05-04-2010, 05:46 PM

Somehow I picture small furry kitty cats.......

LisaP · 05-04-2010, 06:06 PM

Scary

!

wheel interested · 05-04-2010, 06:15 PM

Thank Heavens it was only money they were after. Your new silver palace is safe!! What a near miss. Glad no one was hurt.

Fyrzowt · 05-04-2010, 06:25 PM

Flashsilver, re-read the original post. You'll find the following two statements...

Quote:

I would not have drawn my weapon

Quote:

I would have acted the same carrying or not.

Just thought I'd share.

THEPILL · 05-04-2010, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyrzowt

Flashsilver, re-read the original post. You'll find the following two statements...

Thanks, but I edited those sentences. My original post MIGHT have looked like to SOME that I wanted to stop the robbery.

Which if you read the whole context of the paragraph, it clearly states I didn't even know what was going on nor did anyone else.

Some people are armchair quarterbacks.

Shane

hookedonclassic · 05-04-2010, 07:06 PM

Sounds like the teller did what they were trained to do. Give the robbery what they are asking for and GET them out of the bank. Lock-down is SOP as well as asking customers to stay or contact info for possible witnesses. It's an awful experience for the teller either way especially if a gun is shown by robber.

fotochop · 05-04-2010, 07:12 PM

...best to stay cool as possible, maybe better you didn't see it happen!

..we had a sitch in my jazzfest booth Sunday with a VERY drunk guy who seemed quite edgy...played it cool UNTIL he put both hands on my wife's shoulders at which point I very FIRMLY told him there was no way he was going to be touching either one of us in this booth... she calmly walked to the authorities, they intervened and eventually he moved on, incident avoided....

..'course my gut was saying "clock this fool NOW" but my head prevailed..fortunately..

..in the words of George Jones: "play it cool, man, play it cool..."

Jim & Susan · 05-04-2010, 07:29 PM

Anybody see "24" last night? Jack Bauer knows how to deal with the bad guys.

That's not meant to be a judgement of anybody involved in this thread, btw.

Jim

Jim Foster · 05-04-2010, 09:28 PM

In the mid seventies, I was Operations Officer for a three branch bank in Sacramento County. I was also designated Security Officer. I attended several Security Seminars where the speaker was Jeff Owen, Head Security Officer for the Bank of America. Jeff reviewed every BofA robbery himself. That was nearly a full time job, as BofA was getting hit almost daily.
Jeff's stories were endless, and the several times I heard him speak, he never repeated a story. Most were regarding what tellers would do when confronted by a robber. Sometimes they did as they were trained to do, sometimes not, but all of his stories were great.

I'll share some.
A teller at a BofA in Chinatown, San Francisco was giving up her money to a robber as trained. When she had it all on the counter, she looked up at the robber, put her hands on the money, pulled it all back and said "You no takey my money, I no balance!". The robber saw that things were not going his way, turned and ran out of the bank.

One afternoon Jeff was standing in a teller line to cash a check after doing an investigation. The guy in front of him presented the teller with a note to rob the teller. Jeff saw what was going on, walked up behind the guy, introduced himself, told the guy he was armed, took the guy into custody.

I really enjoyed listening to Jeff Owen at those seminars. The upshot of his stories was that no matter what you think you might do, no matter what the training, when confronted with a situation, other factors just may guide your actions.

Ahzmyrah · 05-04-2010, 10:16 PM

Had just a little experience with bank robberies. Used to be a bank manager in Los Angeles. I was in nine bank robberies. Had everything happen from some just like the one in this thread where people did not even know it happened.to being walked around the bank with .357 mag jammed in my armpit while he took down multiple tellers to somewone that put a 12 guage shotgun blast in the ceiling and yelled "everyone down on the floor now". I worked for Bank of America and their rules were and probably still are that you cooperate with the robber,get a good description if you can, get them on the cameras and get them out of the bank. The doors were locked perserve the scene of the crime and to retain witnesses. It's a very good policy that works. The guy that walked me around with the .357 was captured right behind the bank by two LAPD detectives that were cashing checks at our drive up window and I told the cops what had happened over the intercom. That's how I know it was a .357. The guy that put the 12 guage round in the ceiling well he died in our parking lot shortly after leaving of extreme lead poisoning. Seems he had a bad habit of hitting two banks every other Thursday along a route that paralleled the 101 freeway in the San Fernando Valley. The LAPD knew about his pattern but did not know which banks exactly he was going to hit. I was wearing a radio beeper that alerted the LAPD and they were waiting for him outside. They had more shotguns than he did. It was against bank policy to carry a gun even with a permit. You could be fired for it. I carried a gun to work with me for years after that.

Jim Foster · 05-04-2010, 10:33 PM

I never could understand why someone would rob a bank. Teller limits were very low, usually under $1,500. Getting into the vault takes lots of time. You get your picture taken, maybe get red dye all over you, and get the cops, sometimes the FBI after you.

There was a guy in Sacramento who got the red dye treatment. Didn't seem to bother him though, he took his buddies to a bar to celebrate. The bar tender saw the red money and called the cops.

Another dumb crook story.

Mexray · 05-04-2010, 11:23 PM

Had to chuckle - the 'suspect' guy in the pics above didn't even wear his sun glasses (hanging from his shirt) when he faced right into the camera...those cameras have really improved - clear, sharp color photos, these days - guess I'll wear my Tux next time I go to the bank - got to look sharp for those cameras....

Gator113 · 05-05-2010, 12:15 AM

Shane,

You did good. It is always better to be a live witness than a dead statistic.

Even cops are trained to be a good witness when off duty, unless deadly force is required to save their life or the life of another in such circumstances.

Thanks for sharing.

Dan

FlashSilver · 05-05-2010, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fyrzowt

Flashsilver, re-read the original post. You'll find the following two statements...

If my reply sounded like I was second guessing you, I am sorry, that was not my intent. I was trying to reassure you that things worked out well given the circumstances. It sounded like you were beating yourself up for letting such a thing happen. Of course you would not have drawn your weapon if you had it with you, that was my point. You did exactly as you should have, armed or not. I am glad everyone survived without trauma.

.