Bank robbers kill five in Nebraska farm town
While the United States' deadliest bank heist in more than a decade left residents shaken, experts said the tragedy is yet another indication of violent crimes' growing reach into rural America.
Police Chief Bill Mizner choked up as he read aloud the names of the victims — four bank employees and a customer — killed as at least three robbers shot their way out of the U.S. Bank branch near one of the town's busiest intersections.
"Evone Tuttle, 37, of Stanton," Mizner read. "Lola Elwood, 43. Jo A. Mausbach, of Humphrey. Lisa J. Bryant."
The chief paused for a long, awkward moment.
"Lisa J. Bryant, 29, of Norfolk," he continued with difficulty. "Samuel C. Sun, 50."
He seemed shaken by his emotion. "Sorry about that," he said.
Another customer was wounded in the shoulder by gunfire.
Residents of Norfolk, best-known as the hometown of comedian Johnny Carson, expressed sorrow, rage, fear and, above all, a sense of betrayal.
"I'm angry. I'm just angry. I know this stuff happens all over the world, but it doesn't happen in Norfolk, Nebraska," said Dan Kuester, 45, who grew up in a nearby farm town and returned to rear his children in the peace of rural life after two decades of globe-trotting with the Army.
Three men suspected in the robbery were captured several hours after the holdup as they stopped for food at a McDonald's in O'Neill, a ranch town some 75 miles northwest of Norfolk. Authorities were searching for a fourth man.
Authorities said the suspects stole a white Subaru Outback from a residence near the bank, drove it into the countryside, then ditched it in a pond. They apparently then stole a pickup.
Hours after the suspects were taken into custody, the local prosecutor announced that he would file five first-degree-murder charges against each of the men. "Everyone is absolutely committed that the people (killed) here will get justice," he said.
The charges carry the possibility of death in Nebraska.
The three arrested suspects were identified as Jose Sandoval, 23, of Norfolk, and 21-year-olds Jorge Galindo and Erick Fernando Vela, both of Madison.
A fourth man, Gabriel Rodriguez, 26, of Madison, was being sought late yesterday, the Nebraska State Patrol said in a news release. The statement didn't say what role he is believed to have played in the robbery.
Facts about the robbery were slow to emerge. One witness said the men were wearing ski masks. Another witness screamed in horror as a stray bullet pierced the drive-through window of a nearby Burger King. And a radio station reported that bank employees might have triggered a silent alarm that sealed doors shut, forcing the robbers to shoot their way out.
But authorities would confirm none of those rumors and would not say whether the gunmen escaped with any money. As dozens of federal, state and local investigators swarmed the stucco-and-glass bank, officials would say only that they needed to review the bank's security-camera tapes and interview survivors.
For local residents, it was enough just to know that their quiet town had been violated.
"We'll probably be locking our doors more after this," one lifelong resident said.
The bloody robbery did not surprise criminologists.
"Small towns are seen as easy marks," said Ralph Weisheit, an Illinois State University professor of criminal justice who specializes in rural violence.
Indeed, cash-strapped towns across the heartland have been paring down or even eliminating local police departments, relying instead on distant sheriff's deputies to provide protection.
The result: Nearly one in three bank robberies unfolded in a small town last year. In the mid-1990s, fewer than one in five robberies occurred in rural areas.
Slightly bigger, but still isolated, communities such as Norfolk increasingly are at risk as well. In fact, FBI statistics show that on a per-capita basis, towns with populations between 10,000 and 25,000 are now the most likely to experience a bank robbery.
Dan Bodony, the bank-robbery coordinator at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, said rural banks are aware that robbers consider them "softer targets" than urban banks; many have taken steps to improve security.
"They are being very pro-active when it comes to their security," Bodony said.
Many banks also are sending employees to workshops on how to handle an attempted robbery.
Such courses always emphasize that most robbers do not want to harm anyone. Their aim is usually to take the money and run.
But that truism has been shaken in recent years as bank robberies nationwide have turned more violent and as small-town crime increasingly has been fueled by methamphetamine, known as "poor man's cocaine."
There is no indication yet that methamphetamine had anything to do with yesterday's robbery. But several analysts said the possibility came to mind as soon as they heard of the bloodbath in Norfolk.
"Drugs are a big driver behind this type of crime," said George Beattie, executive vice president of the Nebraska Bankers Association.
Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.