An off-duty Columbus police officer cashing a check at a North Side bank shot a man trying to rob another customer outside, police said.
The robber approached a man with a deposit bag who was walking into the Fifth Third Bank at 1500 Morse Rd. about 11:20 a.m. yesterday, said Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman.
It didn't take long for police to respond: A uniformed officer working special duty and the off-duty officer were both inside the bank and saw the confrontation just outside the door. They chased a suspect halfway around the bank to the drive-through lanes, and the off-duty officer shot the man in the midsection, Weiner said. A gun was found at the scene.
"The bad guy just picked the wrong bank today," Weiner said.
The suspect, whose name was not released yesterday, was treated at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital. Charges are expected, Weiner said.
The man who was confronted, an employee of Rent-A-Center, was unharmed, as were the officers.
Police were investigating whether the suspect is connected to four similar bank robberies in the past few weeks. In all four, customers were robbed of deposit bags outside the banks' doors. The Fifth Third in yesterday's incident was hit on July 15, the Huntington National Bank at 3931 Morse Crossing on July 16, the Huntington National Bank at 2141 E. Dublin-Granville Rd. on July 23 and a PNC Bank at 2700 Cleveland Ave. in late June.
"They all happen outside (banks) by a tall male black," Weiner said. "He comes up with a gun and demands money and runs."
The incidents prompted police to issue a crime-pattern advisory to local businesses, Weiner said.
Copyright 2013 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
