This is a true story. I have many true stories from my own life which may seem unbelievable, but, believe me, they are true. The one I am about to tell seemed unbelievable to me too!
It was a Monday. Monday’s for me at work meant the morning was consumed with sorting through weekend mail, bills, counting and balancing any “special” collections that took place at Masses or special events. The money-counters, parishioner volunteers were rotated every four weeks so that no two people could make a plan for a heist. Deposits after the weekend were fairly decent for the medium-sized church.
Typically, the Administrator accompanied me as I loaded the overstuffed bank bag into my vehicle and drove the three miles to the bank. That particular Monday, she did not accompany me, I went to the bank by myself.
I needed the monies to be counted at that time and obtain the deposit receipt that morning. I do not recall the particular reason for using the in-bank service rather than the night deposit drop other than requiring the deposit receipt immediately.
The single line in the bank was long, their line for business transactions was not open. Four people were ahead of me. I noticed the fellow in front of me, he had a baseball cap on and was tall, his hair was dark and nicely groomed. I could not see what type of transaction he was holding. I wanted to calculate how long my wait might be with each patron. The old man in front of the guy in front of me had a small bag similar to mine. I knew his transaction was for a business and would be tying up a teller for quite a while as would mine.
Good fortune shined! Another teller opened her window. The old man went to her just as the patron at the window directly in front of the line finished his transaction and the guy in front of me stepped up to the window. “Good! I’ll be back at my desk in time for lunch,” I thought.
Only a few minutes after the guy stepped up to the teller, his transaction was finished. Hooray! My turn. I stepped up to the window and the teller was pointing to the man she had just served. She was waving her hand as if to indicate he forgot something, like maybe his wallet, or his cash. She did not speak, just waved as to indicate something about that man.
Good Samaritan me, jumped into action and ran toward the door, stepping outside while holding the door open, I yelled to the guy, “Hey, you forgot something! The teller wants you.”
Just then, another Good Samaritan was approaching the bank doors which I was holding open. He heard what I had shouted and turned to catch the guy in case the guy hadn’t heard me. Just then, I heard the bank teller regain her voice as she shouted, “HE’S GOT A GUN!”
Holy sh*t! I too screamed, “HE’S GOT A GUN!” Images of gunfire filled my head as I feared that the second Good Samaritan might get shot – all because of me trying to help.
The second Good Samaritan stopped in his tracks and ran toward me. The alarm was sounding, police were everywhere and someone came to pull me and the other Good Samaritan into the bank as it was put into lock down.
The police were there, at the bank, already. Not ten minutes, not five minutes, more like zero minutes! As it turned out, they were expecting this character to rob one of the banks in the N.W. part of town, Tucson, and had stake-outs at all the banks in that area, that specific day.
The robber, a drug addict, was predictable in his robbing habits. No kidding! That is what the police told me. They knew he was going to hit a bank that Monday.
The robber was able to escape the parking lot but was captured as he pulled into the next bank down the road where another stake-out was waiting.
My bank stayed in lock down for a couple of hours, or at least it seemed that way to me. I phoned my boss and told her what had happened and she thought I was joking.
From that point onward, I insisted on depositing the monies into the night drop, although that was frightening as well – a robber could walk up to any of the vehicles stuck in the drive-up business line and rob all of us.
Fortunately for me, that was my one and only bank robbery story while at a bank. I do have another bank robbery story about how I was driving to work and was almost killed by the high speed chase as another bank robber raced in my direction with screaming police cars behind him. That was terrifying because where I was turning was a dead end and I feared… that’s another true story for another time. Be safe my friends!
Yikes!
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Wow. That’s not an experience you’d want to repeat.
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Yes, after that, I was always frightened when I had to go to the bank. I live in a small town now, but, bank robberies are common anywhere these days, unfortunately.
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Wow. I was at the drive through window once and was told that I should call the cops because there was a holdup in progress in the bank … but I wasn’t IN the bank, just outside in my car. Good one!!
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In retrospect, I was in awe at how close I came to being shot! Or causing that other, innocent man to be killed. Somebody was looking out for both of us that day!
I think being in the drive-up line is just as scary because where can a person go if they are stuck in a line, a 3-lane drive-up? You were lucky too!
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I was so young at the time, I was still in my “I’m immortal” period. Now, it would scare the pants off me.
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Wow!!! quite the story!! So glad you are here to tell it :-).
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No kidding, me too! 😀
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You’ve just brought back a memory of when i was about 9 or 10 home alone and watched as a robber was breaking in!! Think I will work on that story for today’s post a little later! At least we are here to tell our stories 😊
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Oh my GOD!! I think that is even more scary than my story! I cannot imagine that. Although we had a really mean dog, but, the burglar probably would’ve shot her. I look forward to reading your story whenever you have time to post it! 😀
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Working on it now!! We did’t have a dog at the time BUT got one right after that 😀
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That is scary!! Glad it all ended well!
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Wow! That was a close call!
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Oh yes! I am still amazed we didn’t get killed!
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wow from me too! Exciting tale and glad you are safe!!
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Thank you so much! 😀
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