Five killed in Nebraska bank robbery
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) – Three robbers opened fire inside a northeast Nebraska bank Thursday morning, killing four U.S. Bank employees and a customer and shooting a woman in the shoulder, authorities said. Rain was hampering the search for the three men, who ran from the bank about 9 a.m. and were seen driving away in a white Subaru, Police Chief Bill Mizner said.
“We are trying to determine what happened. We’re hoping security tapes will help explain that,” Mizner said.
Mizner said two employees in the bank were unharmed and a female customer was wounded.
The woman was treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder and was released, said Jaque Genovese, a spokeswoman for Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk.
Windows in the bank were shot out during the robbery, and the drive-thru window at a nearby Burger King was shattered by a stray bullet.
“Everyone started screaming,” said Shellee Honcik, an accountant who was at the restaurant at the time. “We’re all still in shock.”
No one was at the drive-thru window when it was shot out, and none of the 20 people in the restaurant was injured, she said.
Mizner said the robbers, who witnesses described as three men wearing baggy pants, broke into a house near the bank and took the Subaru, which had temporary in-transit tags in a window rather than license plates.
Schools in Norfolk were locked down as police searched for the suspects, and banks in surrounding communities locked their front doors to customers.
“Everyone is just a little nervous,” said Barb Rabe, clerk for the city of Wisner, about 30 miles southeast of Norfolk.
Authorities wouldn’t say whether the men got away with any money. Mizner said the FBI was called to help in the investigation.
Rain prevented the State Patrol from using its helicopter and planes to search for the suspects in the hours after the robbery, and the Patrol was pulling in officers from other areas of the state to help, Patrol spokeswoman Terri Teuber.
Gov. Mike Johanns and executives with the bank’s parent company, U.S. Bancorp of Minneapolis, also planned to fly to Norfolk.
“Obviously, this is a tragic situation and we’re trying to cooperate with police and do all we can to help in the investigation,” said Steve Dale, a U.S. Bancorp spokesman.
Norfolk, a rural farming community with a population of about 25,000, is about 90 miles northwest of Omaha.
It is best known as the hometown of comedian Johnny Carson.