| Chicago Bank robbers face court |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Monday, 04 June 2007 | |
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One of the two men charged on 01 June made a statement to authorities after his arrest; an affidavit released says that, Alton Marshall of Chicago admitted that he fired shots during the 22 May holdup at the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan. Police for a while, were searching for the suspects, who fled with a small amount of money in a late-model maroon vehicle with temporary license plates. It was one of their dear friends who gave information to the FBI which made the arrest come easy. A $50,000 reward for information on the robbery prompted the friend of one of the alleged to come forward, breaking the case. The FBI and Chicago police detectives had been jointly working on the case. FBI spokesman Ross Rice said that one of the two men to be charged was arrested earlier in the week, and the other one was taken into custody on June 01 by members of the FBI's Chicago Violent Crimes Task Force. One of those men appeared before the Magistrate Judge Michael Mason on 02 June. The second one was expected to be charged few days later. Several reports suggest that the case could be upgraded to be included as a federal homicide one. On the day of the attack, three men wearing masks, gloves and dark clothing, rushed into the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan branch,. Witnesses have said the men screamed directions and leaped over a bank counter. Gibson, the teller was shot in the back when he could not open a vault as ordered. Gibson was a married father of two who had worked at the bank branch for only six months. Security guard Earl Coleman heard shots before he came out of a back room and was shot in the chest. He returned fire and said he hit one of the men. The three men got away with only a small amount of cash in a maroon Oldsmobile, which was later found abandoned at 66th Street and South Wabash Avenue. Authorities have defended the actions of Coleman, who has said he heard Gibson tell the robbers that he did not have the combination to the vault. The heist prompted two elementary schools to go into a lockdown and sent jitters through the middle-class Chatham neighborhood. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 June 2007 ) |
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