Caption by Post-Dispatch. Photo by J.B. Forbes jforbes@post-dispatch.com
A courageous bank president takes care of business in Troy, Missori.
Bad guy ignores the “guns welcome” signage on the door, and robs the place, full of dozens of employees and customers.
Bank president follows him outside and draws down on him.
Another bank employee shows up. Oh yeah, second employee is armed as well.
They hold Mr. Robber until the police arrive.
President of Troy, Mo., bank pulls gun, nabs masked robber
TROY, MO. • Maybe the bank robber couldn’t see very well through the holes in his mask — the face of Chucky from the “Child’s Play” horror movies — as he walked into Peoples Bank & Trust Tuesday afternoon.
After all, it says right on the door that concealed weapons are allowed in the bank. They’re practically encouraged by the sign: “Management recognizes the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as an unalienable right of all citizens.”
So when the robber walked out of the bank a short time later with a red bank bag full of cash, maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised that bank president David W. Thompson followed him out to the parking lot. Thompson watched the masked robber get in a Ford pickup parked in a handicapped spot up front, then pulled his Colt .380 handgun and pointed it at the man.
“Sir, get out of the truck,” Thompson, 58, recalled demanding. “You’re not going anywhere.”
And when the man put his hand in his jacket pocket, as if he had a weapon, Thompson scolded him again.
“You don’t want to go there,” Thompson said. “This will end badly.”
Fortunately the robber listened. It turned out the man had no weapon of his own. Thompson and another bank official who also carries his own weapon pulled the man from the truck and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.