Thursday, April 28, 2011

First Community Bank Employee Killed by Friendly Fire in Gunfight!

Three officers are under investigation concerning the death of First Community Bank employee, Bob Carlyle. The officers are on paid leave until further notice.

Carlyle was hit by friendly fire from one of three police officers involved in the gunfight with gunmen inside the bank.

Carlyle was the bank employee who hid under the bank counter.


"As police officers we strive to conduct our jobs with the utmost respect to community safety," said Police Chief Nora Young. "While it appears as though Mr. Carlyle's death was the result of a tragic accident that occurred in the midst of our officers' efforts to stop three robbers who had already murdered two civilians, it is important that we complete the vital and transparent process of determining what could have prevented this terrible circumstance."

The other victims injured in the gun fight have yet to be revealed.

Vault Victims Free!

The civilians trapped inside the vault have been released.

A big cheer came from the crowd outside the bank as the civilians in the vault came stumbling out of the bank.

The vault victims were ushered quickly into the restaurant where their families were awaiting their arrival.

First Community Bank Robbers Revealed

In a press conference held by Community Police Department, Chief of Police Nora Young, the names of the three robbers were revealed.

The three robbers were Darrin Hume, age 44; Fred Lapidus, age 37; and Ben Winslet, age 34. Young said these three men had prior criminal records dealing with issues of violence.

These three men were sent to state prison in April of 2007, found guilty of robbing the The Community Diner at 32 North Main Street. All three men were sentenced to five to 15 years in prison.

It is not known why these men were released early from prison.

"All I can say is that we at the board of pardons and parole try our best to make the right decisions about who should be kept behind bars and who should be let go," said James LaDuke, chairman of the state Board of Pardons and Parole. "Our prisons are overcrowded, so sometimes we let prisoners go before they've reached their minimum sentence. We try our best to understand who is a good risk and who is a bad risk. But we don't have a crystal ball.

Young stated that the department does its best to bring in criminals alive to be tried for their crimes but said, " By the time we arrived on the scene these individuals had already killed two people. These were very bad men and if there is any consolation to what happened today it is that they can no longer hurt anyone."

As of 8 PM the civilians within the bank are still trapped in the vault but the hope of Young is that they will be out in a matter of time.

The police are investigating further into the robbery as to whether the three gunman were working alone and are pursuing all leads concerning the possibility of help by others to the robbers.

S3 Technicians Arrive at Bank

A techinical team from S3 has arrived to work on the bank vault.

Four men showed up in suits, caring suitcases and headed directly into the bank. One of the men was caring a bright yellow tool box.

We have learned the identity of another person trapped inside the vault. The persons name is Soon Kwon's.

We were able to speak to her brother Dak-Ho Kwon who had this to say:
"I am eager for my sister to be released from the vault. This has been an extremely sad and frightening day and we all just want it to be over."

Police Take Down Robbers

In a statement released by the police, when SWAT arrived at the scene, the bank robbers had already killed two people inside the bank. It has been confirmed that there were three armed men who entered the bank.

Alice Angelo, one of the witnesses out side the bank, stated that two of the men were caring shotguns and the third was caring a pistol.

One of the robbers fired a shot out the bank window towards officers and one of the commanding officers issued the command to return fire. Police officers killed two of the men and mortally wounded the third. The third man was taken by ambulance to the Community Valley Hospital but died on route.

A civilian that was hiding under one of the counters in the bank was injured during the gunfight and has been transported to Community Valley, The civilian is in stable condition.

The vaults wall-mounted control panel was damaged in the gunfight, which is the cause for the five civilians being trapped inside.

Local High School Football Game Cacelled

Tonight's local high school football game has been canceled.

Local sports reporter Paul Delante said that Jennifer Clementime, the Community High School Athletic Director, told him that the game between the Community Bulldogs and the Buxton High School Cowboys has been canceled. She would not tell Delante why.

It has been learned that the Bulldogs star quarterback, Sharaf Jarrah, is one of the people trapped inside the First Community Bank vault.

"My family and I extend our deepest sympathies to the people who were killed in today's bank robbery," said Omar Jarrah, father of Sharaf. "We have spoken to our son, Sharaf, and he is doing well, but is eager to be released from the safe."

Star Security Sytems Release Statement

Star Security Systems (S3) said that the people within the vault, which is air tight, should have enough air to last them through out the evening.

S3 says the vault should be open by 7 PM.

"S3 is committed to providing excellent customer service to our customers, no matter how unusual the situation might be," said company President Marge Jacobsen. "We are confident that all people stuck inside our vault will be returned to their families soon."

No further statements are being issued by S3 at this time.

According to an article written by Matt Cantham of The Affiliated Press on June 9 of 2009, S3 filed for bankruptcy after dealing with court issues brought forward by banks who were reporting malfunctions to their S3 computerized bank vaults.

The article states that credit union customers were unable to access their safety deposit boxes for two weeks and S3 failed to act upon a well known issue of their vault computers malfunctioning.

"Company officials pledged to fix the problems, stated Cantham. "...but the waiting list is hundreds of banks long and Star acknowledged that it could be several years before all the vaults are fixed"