Mt Clemens bank robbed at gunpoint

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32365225

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. - Police said a search is under way for an armed man who robbed a bank in Harrison Township Monday.

Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel said the robber walked into the Flagstar Bank at 16 Mile and Crocker roads just after noon.





"We've had many bank robberies where people have just tried to pass a note implying that they have a weapon," Hackel said. "In this situation, it's completely different."

Hackel said surveillance shows the robber walking right up to a teller, pulling out a semi-automatic gun and putting it to a 20-year-old bank customer's head.

Hackel said the man wasted no time announcing the robbery, demanding cash and threatening to take the 20-year-old woman as a hostage with him.

"She (the hostage) immediately fell to the ground and was not going to go with him," Hackel said. "He was able to get an undisclosed amount of money from the bank teller ... and made an exit."

Hackel said the woman was not hurt.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Macomb County Sheriff's Department or Crime Stoppers at 800-SPEAK-UP.



Sort of a two part discussion here. How will this effect citizens walking into a bank with a gun on there hip doing some banking? And if you were in the bank during this robbery, how would you handle the attempted hostage taking and robbery overall if you were open carrying at the time??

These are things that CAN happen while we go about our daily lives.

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There was an armed robbery just a few blocks from my house at a local convienance store a few weeks ago (a fellow OCer was acctualy detained as the possible suspect while happeneing to be in the area around the time about a 1/2 mile away...supposedly he "matched the description"). He went to the store (not OCing)to find out if the armed robbery was true or if he was just being harrased for OCing, and came to find out it was robbed. He tried talking to the owner about OC, but from what he told me the owner said something along the lines of (don't quote me here word for word) "the next time anyone ocomes into my store with a gun, I'll take care of them myself".

Makes me wonder what would happen if I entered the store OCing just to spend money their with no intention to commit a crime. Would the owner/worker shoot me just because I had a gun in a holster on my hip? I don't plan on trying to find out. This makes me wonder about many other stores that have owners/workers that might do the same thing to an unsuspected OCer who has no idea that a certain store may have been robbedone too many times.

As far as the bank situation you described, if the bank decides to they could allows put a sign/sticker on the window prohibiting firearms, but all they would be doing is making a "Criminal Empowerment Zone" (though it doesn't seem to stop banks from still getting robbed).

I've never understood why people still rob banks. Most are in city limits where you have alot more witnesses, survielance cameras, the exploding ink packs that they usually put in with the money that discolors the money when they leave the premises making the money useless, and not to mention the time a criminal will do when convicted of an armed robbery. That's alot of risk to go throughto hope you make it home without being caught or having the money ruined.

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The difference is this guy hand his gun in his hand.

I'm not sure how I would react in that situation and I would caution ANYONE against posting on the internet how they might react. If $hit happens I'm sure your posts will be printed out and shown to the jury.

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Lets put it this way under pressure in competition draw to first shot on a 6 inch steel target at 21 feet is .95 seconds and I don't miss very often.... That is with someone pulling a trip wire from behind me and shouting this is a holdup. The tripwire flips out one of three initial targets a COP an Innocent civilian or a BG I have to draw on that shout asses and and fire or not fire.

What would I do? It would depend on the situation ... but I know I am fast and accurate and IF I could take a clean shot you can bet I most likely would! Sounds like the teller in this case would have made it easy for a GG as she dropped to the ground that would have opened up options!

Note I use the same guns I carry for competition and practice drawing from both my OC holsters and my CC holsters... A good way to do this yourself is to use a video camera and then later you can figure out how fast you are and watch for errors you might need to correct!

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For me the logic is this:

Am I or my own family at risk? If so, then I will do whatever is necessary to protect my own under any circumstance.

If a stranger is at risk, I would have to analyze the situation. Can I see any accomplices? Is anyone behind me? Is there a clear shot?

Unfortunately for the stranger, there are many variables to determine on a moments notice. I would think most likely I would remain a witness unless either a very clear case for intervention is evident or I become personally at risk.

Again, the purpose of being armed is for personal protection, not to be a superhero.

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If I was open carrying I would slowly turn the gun ( my body) away from the robber, if it was not already. And I would just be a good witness.

You can't outdraw a gun already drawn. :lol:

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LaVere wrote:

If I was open carrying I would slowly turn the gun ( my body) away from the robber, if it was not already. And I would just be a good witness.

You can't outdraw a gun already drawn. :lol:

Click to expand...

Well, unless of course, you're Clint Eastwood, Steven Segal or Chuck Norris.

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Just saw on the news they caught the guy who robbed the bank. (Roseville police)