ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702170029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
The two heavily armed robbers who killed a teller and wounded three people in a NationsBank branch demonstrated a level of brutality extremely rare in bank holdups, crime statistics show.
Only three of the 7,067 bank robberies in the United States in 1995 resulted in the death of someone other than the robber, according to the most recent FBI figures.
About 3 percent of the robberies resulted in injuries.
In most robberies, only the robber and the bank employee he confronts are aware that a holdup is taking place, said Sonya Barbera, a spokeswoman for the American Bankers Association.
``They're called note jobs: Someone walks in and passes a note to the teller that asks for money,'' Barbera said. ``They don't involve any kind of violence or anyone being hurt or killed.''
On Jan. 30, however, two men opened fire with military-style guns as they burst into a NationsBank branch. They riddled the bank with bullets, exchanged gunfire with the bank's security guard and two policemen, then escaped by running through Richmond National Cemetery.
The FBI arrested one suspect Wednesday.
Nationally, violent bank robberies are on the rise, Barbera said. FBI statistics show a gradual increase in the number of bank robberies that involve death or injuries, from 1.7 percent in 1989 to 2.6 percent in 1994.
James Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, said those numbers are not surprising because crime as a whole is getting more violent.
``Criminals are becoming more ruthless, more fearless and more willing to use violence, even homicide, to cover up their criminal activity,'' he said.
Tougher sentencing laws are part of the reason, Fox said. Many states have enacted so-called three-strikes-and-you're-out sentencing under which a third felony brings a lifetime prison sentence. Increased drug use is also a factor, he said.
Richmond police and Virginia State Police had no statistics on violence during bank robberies. However, their data indicate a substantial increase in the number of bank robberies throughout the state and in Richmond during the past few years.
In 1996, Richmond reported 18 bank robberies, almost as many as the total for the three preceding years, city police statistics show. There were five robberies each in 1993 and 1994, and 10 in 1995. In 1992, however, there were 16 bank robberies in Richmond.
LENGTH: Medium: 51 linesby CNB