A man was charged with attempting to rob a bank Saturday morning in south suburban Calumet City.
A man was charged with attempting to rob a bank Saturday morning in south suburban Calumet City.
Demetrius Harrell, a 23-year-old from Calumet City, was charged with one count of attempted bank robbery in a federal complaint filed Monday in the U. S. District Court’s Northern District of Illinois.
Harrell entered the First Savings Bank of Hegewisch branch at 1100 Sibley Blvd. in Calumet City at 9:12 a.m. and asked the assistant bank manager about opening a checking account, according to the complaint, which presented information gathered from interviews with five bank employees who witnessed the robbery, Harrell and law enforcement agents.
Harrell then pulled out a note and a green bag, and handed them to the assistant bank manager, the complaint alleges. At this time the assistant bank manager noticed a silver object pointing out of his coat that looked like a gun.
The note was recovered by law enforcement officers and stated, “give me 40,000 all Big Bill 100’s and 50’s before I start shooting you got three minutes don’t play with me my Police Scanner on. no dye Pack or tracking device or shooting everybody in here,” according to the complaint.
The assistant bank manager took the note and the green bag to the locked area behind the teller counter, where they notified the four other bank employees who were working about the bank robbery, the complaint alleges.
An assistant bank teller who was behind the counter saw Harrell approach the counter, according to the complaint. The assistant bank teller then approached a personal banker, who was behind the counter and working with a customer, and told them to finish the customer’s transaction.
After the customer left, the assistant bank teller went into the kitchen next to the teller side of the counter with the other employees, according to the complaint. One of the employees called 911 from inside the kitchen.
While they were in the kitchen, someone who they believed to be the robber tried pushing through the door into the kitchen, but the employees pushed back until it stopped, according to the complaint.
Surveillance video showed the bank robber pacing back and forth outside the teller area with what appeared to be a gun in his hand, according to the complaint. In the video, he climbs onto the customer side of the teller counter before going out of view of the camera.
A law enforcement officer who responded to the scene saw Harrell leave through the bank’s east entrance door and head north on Exchange Avenue, according to the complaint. The officer pulled alongside Harrell, opened his driver’s side window, pointed his weapon at Harrell and ordered him to the ground.
Harrell then ran west through an alley north of the bank, jumped a fence and then went north through a neighborhood, the complaint alleges. The officer followed Harrell, and he was eventually taken into custody by a second officer in a nearby backyard.
Harrell was placed in the backseat of a third officer’s squad car, and four of the five bank employees positively identified him as the bank robber, according to the complaint. The fifth employee said Harrell matched the bank robber’s physical description, but could not identify him with certainty.
In a statement to law enforcement agents, Harrell admitted to being the attempted bank robber and having written the demand note just before the attempted robbery, the complaint alleges. He also stated he climbed over the teller counter and tried to get into the kitchen before leaving the bank and running from police.
