The Great Bank Robbery

We worked at a 10,000 square foot building in Troy Michigan which was like hundreds of others.  We did work for the Auto industry and most all of the major defense contractors and research organizations.

Our building had a good space for making prototypes and housing lots of microprocessors and computers.  We could make anything.

A half a block away there was a K-Mart Store.  It had a dandy small restaurant.  You could get breakfast and a good lunch.

The store was the precursor to the huge Wall Mart stores.   I would often walk over and get a quick lunch with some of the folks.  The food was good and there were a few characters that showed up who livened up the place.   One was a typical bag woman.  She had the standard equipment of shopping cart and long coat.  She was elderly.

A retired man also came often to get a light lunch and coffee.  Over time I had studied them closely. 

The woman seemed to hold a dislike for the man.  She stared at him.  I'm not sure that he understood the extent of her rancor.  I don't think they had been introduced.

One day she startled us all.   I watched her shaping a large glob of apple pie on the end of her  spoon not her fork.  She formed the glob so that the spoon could launch the pie with a good chance of a direct hit.

The Apple Pie was launched.  Its path was perfect hitting the old man on the forehead. 

No big fuss, the lady running the lunch counter chastised the old woman and wiped the old man's face.  Life went on as before with no call to the police.  I bring up the Apple Pie Launch and no police call for a purpose.  The Police would visit us soon.

Across the street on the corner there was a branch Comerica Bank.  It was the target.

I was done with my lunch and headed back to work.  Walking down the main isle, I approached the door.  The door system was common.   Nothing special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a set of inside doors, followed by the outside doors.  The distance between the two  sets was about 12 feet.  In this space KMart stored their shopping carts.

On one wall there was the usual phone.

I reached for the door and was puling it open.  It was not an electric door at that time.

As soon as I opened it a bit there was a tremendous explosion of gunfire ... bang, bang bang... 

The glass in the door shattered.  The noise was intense.  Before me was a man and on top of him were two men.  They were struggling.  The rough guy was reaching for a gun which had bounced out of his way due to some collision of the two men with the third. I was trying to process all this information without  much success.  What I saw, I will always remember.  I was covered with glass shards, but not harmed.

I could not see the faces of the two well dressed men.  They were trying to prevent the third rough looking man from gaining control of the gun which at present was out of his reach. 

One of them was sprawled gripping  the thighs of the rough man, while the other was trying to control the man by gripping with all his might, the rough guys waist.

The rough guy's face was pressed to the floor.  It was distorted with anger and fear.  Both of his hands were free and working hard to pull himself forward to grab the gun. 

The look on the desperate man's face became more distorted as he used all in his power to get his gun back.

The phone was dangling and swinging to and fro as the the three struggled for life itself.

The battle ended when one of the men got control of the gun.   It was all over in an instant.  Glass breaking and a terrific din of gun fire and shouts, then silence.

What had happened?  The man had robbed the bank across the street.  With money in hand he ran to the KMart store and tried to use the phone to call a cab!

What deranged brain conjured up such a plan?  Where was the traditional get-a-way car?

The rough man was soon handcuffed and under control as more and more police cars arrived.  Evidently the Bank personnel had contacted the police.  I don't know, if it was by alarm or call.  I suspect they activated their direct alarm to the Police Station. Two plain clothes police who were on the road were diverted to the robbery in time to save the day.

The tough guys face and his one hand reaching will always be in my memory.  Armed robbery is a 20 year sentence.

I've had quite a few guns waved my way.  I'm not a gun fan.

Mike Sterling

July 29, 2021