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Bank Robbery in South Arlington

by ARLnow.com | December 14, 2010 at 2:25 pm | 750 views | 31 Comments

(Update at 2:40 p.m.) The BB&T Bank at 2947 South Glebe Road was just robbed. According to scanner traffic, a suspect passed a note implying he had a gun, but no weapon was seen.

The suspect is described as a six-foot tall black male in his 30s or 40s with scruffy facial hair. He was wearing a blue jacket, a black backpack and a beanie hat.

Gunston Middle School and Oakridge Elementary School were briefly locked down following the robbery as a precaution.

el fat kid

man… South Arlington is scary.
- ClarendonKing
  
  It’s scary in South-Central.
Catalina

I’m not happy that it took GMS Principal 35 minutes to send parents an email. Geez!
- G::TheNativeArlingtonian
  
  What did you want the principle to say? The robbery wasn’t at or directly near the school. No children were in danger. This was merely a precaution until the police gave the all clear. Also to make sure no strangers entered the building that might be connected with the robbery, or any kids left the building until the police cleared the situation. Frankly, given the information given, unless the lock down had gone beyond the regular release schedule I am not sure an email was even needed. I guess in today’s overly fearful, “I demand,” litigious society an email was a must.
  - PikeHoo
    
    I was thinking along the same lines. Why create the hysteria? 35 minutes seems like a pretty darn good response time for a precautionary situation.
  - Catalina
    
    Is .2 miles close enough for you? When kids are involved, yes parents want to know now. Say you’ve taken precautions and everything is safe right away. But whatever, I’m glad everything is all clear.
    - jan
      
      so what are the parents supposed to do? Rush to the school, possibly in the line of fire? Geesh.
      - mehoo
        
        Parents need to be informed within milliseconds so they can rush to the building and dive in front of any stray bullets to heroically save their children. Didn’t you know that?
- mehoo
  
  Where’d you see that? How long did the principal know about the robbery? Why did parents need to know so fast? What else was the principal busy doing instead – like locking down the building?
  - Catalina
    
    @ mehoo: email sent at 2:50pm. School is let out at 2:24pm. If my daughter walked home or would need to be picked up I would not have known anything about this. I learned about the bank robbery that is within walking distance from the school from her email.
    
    Dear Parents:
    
    This afternoon, the Arlington County Police contacted us at about 2:15 p.m. to let us know that they are investigating a bank robbery that occurred in the community not far from Gunston Middle School. As an added precaution, we have “secured the building.” This means that all doors into the building have been locked, and we are screening all visitors to the building and keeping all students indoors. We are also holding all walkers, and at 2:40 Police directed us to begin releasing bus departures one at a time. Officials are on hand and will continue to give us support and updates. We will let you know as soon as we receive an “all clear” from the police.
    
    If you have any questions, please contact me at 703-228-6900.
    
    Sincerely,
    
    Madge Gill
    Principal
    - mehoo
      
      But walkers were held back, like the email said.
      
      I know you want to know every little thing instantly in the Internet age, but give the lady some credit for actually taking the time to make sure your kid is safe before she sends you the email about it.
  - Banksy
    
    Gotta agree with everyone who is giving Catalina a hard time. He or she sounds like a prime candidate for an STFUParents posting…
    - Catalina
      
      Thanks everyone for your opinions. Like I said I’m ultimately glad everything is ok. All I was trying to conveye is that if a student was suppose to start walking home at 2:24 when school was let out, but was being held at school, and therefor not making it home in time. A quick email at that time would have been helpful to not increase further anxiety. If a parent was pulling up to the school were there might be a police presence, again further anxiety. That’s just my opinion which I’m entitled to. Feel free to continue “giving me a hard time.”
      - Mittendorf
        
        Unfortunately, not everyone is technologically accessible to get the email either. So if I am not, I am still SOL. I would like to be but I can’t afford to be immediately informed.
      - mehoo
        
        They were busy LOCKING DOWN A SCHOOL to protect your child from an ARMED CRIMINAL. That can take a few minutes, not to mention composing the email carefully so jittery parents don’t get even more upset.
SoArlRes

Uh oh. A crime in South Arlington… Bet he was from North Arlington.
http://www.google.com n.thomas street

bb&t just got JACKED UP! if espn was doing the reporting…
NorthAdams

um, when I was in 6, 7, and 8th grade, there were many of us who weren’t exactly in school during normal hours. we were, at the local shopping center…
el fat kid

Jesus Christ some parents are insane. I understand kid = uber important. But freaking out over every little thing is absolutely ridiculous… like an email that comes 35 minutes after the police contact the school.

what did your parents used to do when they got an email 35 minutes after an incident began?

Well done by the cops and schools for coordinating and responding.
- mehoo
  
  “what did your parents used to do when they got an email 35 minutes after an incident began?”
  
  Yeah, what did my parents do, before email existed?
  - el fat kid
    
    surprised you’re alive.
    - mehoo
      
      Just barely holding on. It’s hard to eat with no more teeth, but they pre-chew our food here in the home. You whippersnappers think you’re so great with your Tweeter and your Spacebook, but in my day we just had to take the mule into town and we got the messages through just fine!
- Paranoid Parents
  
  It’s not like the police had enough to deal with the usual early afternoon traffic, now send out a mass email during the early stages of an incident and you’ll have every overly worried soccer mommy circling the blocks in their 4 runners and creating a traffic debacle. Good job parents for raising the Yoots of today in a paranoia bubble of worry.
- BoredHouseWife
  
  Back in my freshman year, some bored teenager created a gaseous bomb, using brake fluid and chlorine in the chemistry lab. We were all herded on the football field, we huddled for 3 hours, and it was snowing.
  - el fat kid
    
    what was the delay between the event and your parents getting an email? did you live?
Smith

Sounds like Catalina needs to focus on her job or actually get one…
- G::NativeArlingtonian
  
  OK, now this is stupid and insulting. I was the first fire off a comment on this, but tried to make it constructive (ok, well till the end… and was more a general comment than directed at Catalina). There is no reason to be mean spirited. And actually, the last point she makes above is a fair one: that is to pull in front of a school or to hear nearby that an incident has occurred near to when your child is being released to head home could be worrisome for some parents. Fair enough. Not everyone is connected, not everyone wants to be, and ones that do and are able to be… again fair enough. And just because you ARE doesn’t mean you aren’t earning an honest living or are a good person. Those that implied such are jackasses.
  - PikeHoo
    
    Agreed. Non-constructive and mean spirited for no real reason.
  - mehoo
    
    Agree. This was a worried mom. Insults are out of line.
Katie

Has there ever been an incident of a bank robbery turning into a child abduction or elementary school shootout? Get Googling, folks.

7:47 am
- mehoo
  
  I remember reading about incidents where armed men try to hide from police in schools.

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