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BREAKING NEWS — Bank Robbery in Courthouse

by ARLnow.com | June 20, 2011 at 3:41 pm | 4,468 views | 54 Comments

(Updated at 4:50 p.m.) Police responded to an armed robbery at the Wachovia Bank in Courthouse (2026 Wilson Boulevard) this afternoon.

Initial reports suggest that a man armed with a handgun robbed the bank around 3:30 p.m. He fled the scene and has not been located. No one was injured.

This is the third bank robbery reported in Arlington this month.

G

With no one ever getting caught after robbing banks here, I’m not surprised they keep happening!
- NomNom
  
  The police were enforcing HOV laws. Not enough units to protect the banks and the carpool lanes.
- Burger
  
  There are something like 7000 bank robberies in this country every year. It is more likely than not they will escape.
Really?

Is there something you want to share with us G? Maybe you are buying drinks tonight.
JustSayNo

Maybe Parenting magazine was on to something.
ABC

No word if these guys get dye packed or are the tellers just handing out cash? I want some.
RK

Is that the Wachovia next to Wendy’s?
- LP
  
  Google is a marvelous thing
  
  http://lmgtfy.com/?q=2026+wilson+blvd+arlington%2C+va
  - Nottingham Sheriff
    
    So is a direct answer. Yes, RK that is the Wachovia next to Wendy’s
    - LP
      
      Mine was a direct answer – the link directs them to the answer.
      - Guest McGuest.
        
        I like to make folks like LP do the research for me. Fetch. Attaboy.
      - Guliel
        
        urbandictionary is better…
        http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=putz
- http://www.arlnow.com ARLnow.com
  
  Yes.
johnny b

Pretty brazen…hitting a bank so close to the police station….that;s two this year right in their front yard.
- R.Griffon
  
  That’s what struck me. It’s TWO friggin’ blocks away! And in broad daylight (not that banks are open after dark in the summer, but still).
- Guliel
  
  When I was a teenager, someone siphoned all the gas from the state police cars parked at the station one night. I know it’s nothing compared to armed robbery, but it was pretty funny.
  - http://www.exactcom.com.au/proofs/KombiPics/Wrecks/bayBushOvergrown.jpg Overgrown Bush
    
    A few decades ago I recall seeing a guy from Detroit stick a banana in the tailpipe of a police car while the cops were in it eating!
    - Josh S
      
      It’s frightening (REALLY frightening) to realize that your use of the word “few” in that sentence is actually appropriate.
      Sigh.
    - NomNom
      
      Damn it Axel!
ArlForester

This must be a mistake. There is no BB&T at that address.
- Burger
  
  +1
coco

i’m watching from my window at work! unbelievable!
- madisonmanor
  
  So – did ACPD DRIVE to the crime scene?
  - AllenB
    
    I’m guessing they did. Do you really think that all of the officers who respond to these crimes are just sitting around at HQ?
    - madisonmanor
      
      No, but do they have 100% out in squad cars at any given time, either? Just quicker to jog a few hundred feet than to drive through Clarendon during afternoon rush.
      - AllenB
        
        I guess you know where all the cars are located at any given time. And I guess you know how calls are dispatched.
        
        Actually, I guess you don’t know any of that but just rather rag on the police without knowing any facts.
      - madisonmanor
        
        Just like you are defending them without knowing the facts. You said “all of the officers” like it was up to me to prove where they were. My original comment was really displaying the irony of a “car free” county dispatching police via car to a scene less than 2 blocks away. You chose to blindly defend – your choice – but what does it really say about confidence in the police force apprehending the thief when the bank robber pulls a heist that close to the police department?
      - cv
        
        - an officer can take cover behind a car
        - if there’s a getaway car…chase on foot?
        - need a car to transport suspects
        - afaik, officers keep their high-powered weapons in their cars
        - more cars/lights, more visibility, public more aware of situation, decreased chance of incidentals
        - block traffic
        
        etc…
      - AllenB
        
        All of the above, plus the computer systems in the cars, communications equipment, etc.
        
        I’m not defending them, but I’m also not attacking for something I know nothing about. You obviously have no problem with speaking about topics of which you know nothing.
      - MC 703
        
        What if something big went down in Rosslyn? Would they jog back to the motor pool and then drive there? Use your noggin.
      - Josh S
        
        Actually, you made the original assertion – it’s on you to defend it against attacks and also support it with facts. Both of which I think you failed to do.
Pedro

BREAKING: Somebody stole the Dr. Dremos next to the bank too!
- WestoverAndOver
  
  The suspects left a ransom note demanding $350K.
- CW
  
  And the taco bell too!
  - James
    
    Whoever bought that land needs to be punched. We’ve been missing Taco Bell for years now…if they werent going to build they should have left the Taco Bell till then.
    
    Sucks having to go up to Lee Highway for a run for the border.
    - Guliel
      
      If Taco Bell was believed to be popular in that area, I’m sure they would have opened another one nearby. That one probably closed because it was losing money, it’s all about supply and demand.
- db
  
  They got the Taco Bell too! Those Bastards!
coco

It’s the Wachovia across from Wendys and yes ACPD drove to the crime scene
CW

Ok, this is getting absurd. I loaded the page and thought that I had accidentally clicked back through to an old story. Nope, just ANOTHER bank robbery.

Maybe it’s time they start hiring some security? I hear Whitlow’s might be letting some bouncers go soon…
Joe Hoya

So did they lock down Key Elementary for this?
Shane

This really is about the perception that Arlington has one lazy police force. Clearly the bank robbers think this is true. As do the motorists who blow through the stop signs in front of ACPD headquarters. As do the cars who barrel through the Glebe and Fairfax intersection. Etc., etc., etc.

You can roll Crystal Nosal out to explain why it takes from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday night to put out flyers about a sexual assault of a minor incident in Arlandria. But at some point, there’s a tipping point where serious crime is the result.
- ArlForester
  
  Which Arlington has very little thanks to the fine police department…..
  - CW
    
    I don’t know. In the time I’ve lived here I’ve seen some pretty brazen crimes in just Clarendon and Courthouse. 2 bank robberies there in the last month, the apple store shooting a couple years ago, etc. The bad crimes don’t happen that often per se for a “big city”, although Clarendon and Courthouse are not collectively very big, but when they do happen there does not seem to be much of anything to stop them.
    
    In other words, I feel like we only have little violent crime because, well, criminals aren’t choosing to commit it. Where is the deterrent? I don’t see anything to deter crime. I don’t see ACPD chasing down these people and taking them out. I just see statements from Nosal et al long after the incident, with no followup thereafter. I can usually walk clarendon to rosslyn at 7 pm and not see a cop, save for the cars parked in front of the court house. For an area that is so rich in targets (i.e. rich in general), there really isn’t much to deter crime.
    - Josh S
      
      Someone close the window, there’s too much hot air blowing in….
      - CW
        
        Exceptionally productive response.
esmith69

They need to design all banks with an extra set of entrance doors, with bulletproof glass on both the innner and outer doors. Then, when the robber has gotten his/her cash and leaves the inner doors, employees inside the bank push a hidden button and presto! Robber gets locked inside the innter and outer doors until police arrive to apprehend them. And because the glass is bulletproof, you don’t need to worry about the scumbag throwing a temper tantrum and harming innocent people with whatever gun they may be carrying.
- http://blog.cheesefingers.com/ Dev Mankad
  
  They’d just take a hostage through with them, I think the banks just want the robbers out as quickly as possible.
  - Stu Pendus
    
    That’s the same way I handle my ladies. Just give them their money and tell them to get the hell out.
- bb
  
  What, no trap door with a twisty slide that ends up in the basement of the courthouse jail across the street from the bank? You think too small sir!
- Guliel
  
  That’s the best idea I’ve heard, I thought of that a long time ago but never told anyone. Although I’m sure they’d figure that out and find ways to avoid them. I’d place security in unmarked vehicles driving from bank to bank, parking nearby and walking to places around the banks. I’m sure that would cost more than the banks could afford to pay, or would be willing to shell out.
FFX CO

That place is only a block away from the police department and the jail.
CW

Surprised we’ve made it this far without any “too bad someone wasn’t open carrying” comments from prospective Rambos.
- Guliel
  
  This is not a situation worth risking your life or those nearby to stop, even if I were carrying concealed and saw this I wouldn’t come out for unless it threatened me or someone with me. Contrary to popular belief, not every concealed carry advocate is bent on proving something.
- Josh S
  
  Yeah, they’re busy taking down teenage boys up in Tuckahoe for lighting disposable plastic flags on fire.

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