Two black men in their mid 20s entered the bank around 5 p.m., according to Lt. Greg Farmanian of the Tracy Police Department.
The men then punched a male bank employee in the face and took a yellow duffel bag from him before running out of the bank, Farmanian said.
The pair was last seen with the duffel bag running west away from the bank, which is near the Raley’s grocery store.
The victim was treated at the scene for a bloody nose, Farmanian said.
Initial police reports were that the bag contained only documents and no cash.
“We’re not sure if they took any money,” Farmanian said. “No idea of their mindset or motive.”
He said the men never mentioned a weapon or showed one during the robbery.
No other injuries were reported by police and a detective said there were approximately a dozen people inside the business at the time of the incident.
The robbers are described as being 5-feet-8 and 5-feet-10, with athletic builds. Police said they were wearing dark clothing.
A woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she saw the two men running out of the bank while she sat in the parking lot in her girlfriend’s car.
“I was sitting right in front of the bank … I saw two young African American men run out,” she said. “The way they were acting I thought, ‘Did they just rob the bank?’” she said. “One almost tripped and dropped the yellow duffle bag. I went to get out of the car and a policeman yelled don’t go into the bank.”
Laile Atkins said she was inside ChilaBerries Frozen Yogurt store, located next to the bank, when a hysterical woman came running into the yogurt shop.
“She was crying and said call 911, the bank was just robbed,” Atkins said. “She said her husband and son were still in the bank.”
The woman told Atkins that she forgot some paperwork in her car and when she returned to go back inside of the bank, she saw everyone inside lying on the bank floor.
“We told the employee (at ChillBerries) to lock the door,” Atkins said.
Crystal Vogt said that she was with Atkins inside of the yogurt shop, and described the situation as exciting. She said she didn’t get nervous until she saw all the officers arrive with their guns drawn.
The bank, which closes daily at 6 p.m., remained closed for the rest of the day while investigators worked the scene.
• Contact Denise Ellen Rizzo at 830-4225 or drizzo@tracypress.com.
I don't give a hoot about concealed this or concealed that.
It's all about protecting my family
The good old boy, rednecks, on the city council only want money from developers to finance their luxury life styles. They don't care about the citizens of Tracy.
Some of these council members don't even live in Tracy!!!!!!They don't care what happens in this town!
So ya carry yer own protection an don't give a hoot about concealed or not.
An yer one of th people I'd have ta say that should not be allowed ta carry a gun an frum what yer sayin yer not a law abidin citizen.
Good show in tellin th law enforcement authorizes that yer probably carryin illegally an given em an excuse ta take ya off th streets. Unless of course ya are writin yer stuff under an alias. Even then yer not unknown an if they wanna find ya it ain't all that difficult fer em ta do so.
Nope, doin thangs illegal ain't th answer ta th problem.
So, since ya brought it up, whare da th council members live? Ya made th allegation can ya provide th facts?
You've alleged that some council members do not live in Tracy. Could you enumerate which one's, you feel, do not live in Tracy and then we can just vote for those who do live in Tracy?
Don't the fact that Council members are required to reside within the City limits stand in your way.
One has to ask if your are mentally qualified to own a weapon let alone carry it.
Henceforth, may all your days be lucid ones.
Anywho, all of this crime can be traced back to local developers.
They want build more homes with this ellis community which is going to attract more thuglets from Oakland, Hayward, etc.
Sorry. I intentionally make it a little difficult to read to slow people down to allow them to comprehend what is really being said. You are not the first to complain about this style but if you try you will see the G in words containing ING dropped, the D in and comes out as AN and some vowels are changed fer (for) the same reason.
Bee sides, people who study how information is assimilated by the brain konw taht wrods taht aer iententonilly jmubled up aer still undresooted as th brian naturally makes sense out of them.
It's done for a psychological effect to slow you down to allow you time to think about what's really being said.
It also happens to be the manner of speech where I grew up as a kid where everyone spoke that way. None of those people would find anything there unusual because they all thank that way? :)
Well do yer best it don't really matter ta me an really shows others yer credibility as a cansarned citizen who cares about th community he lives in.
Note Chris, Tracy is 85,000 strong an is no longer th little town that it use ta be 40 years ago. Things an times change. Get use ta it because it's still changin an will change until th end of time.
It's called progress. Admittedly all progress ain't good but in th general long term side of it is fer no other reason is ya ain't changin an movin forward yer simply dead an th world moves on without ya.
It's not th developers fault, not th city's fault an no individual citizens fault. It's what is and what has been allowed ta develop over time an is experienced all over th world as people desperately come up with ideas ta grab a quick wad of cash without workin fer it.
No growth or zero growth is th quickest way ta killin a community an a civilization. Why? Because if ya don't grow an change other communities an societies quickly grow around ya an strangle ya an yer ideals ta oblivion. It's a historical fact an one that will be repeated until th lesson is larned.
I must agree, your writing is difficult to read, especially if one is dyslexic as I am. At first I thought you had some type of disability, or were making fun of people with disabilities. Now that you have explained yourself, I cannot but wonder why someone who seems to be rather intelligent and thought provoking cannot find another, more intellectual way of expressing themselves. You do have some interesting and valid points, but if we cannot understand what you are saying, your points are moot.
First, ya can tarn off yer CAPS we can read.
Second, yer idea has merit but isn't truly failsafe either. As I recall th old Washington Mutual out by th mall had somethang similar an th guy followed th customer inta th atrium, cus th bank was closed an only th ATMs were available but th customer was robbed anyway.
Look, thair ain't a perfect solution ta this but thair are thangs we can proactively do ta help alleviate th problem.
Still, yer idea does show merit an that yer at least thankin about th problem rather than blamin it all on th police.
People first need ta protect thair own property. That ain't really th responsibility of th police because they are the secondary answer an usually thair after th fact. That bein said th banks own thair property so naturally is falls on them ta provide th first level protection fer thair property an depend on th police as th secondary answer after th fact.
Th object here is ta prevent th crime from occurin in th first place, not moppin up after its been committed. The problem is how ta do that in th most expedient an efficient manner without tarnin our country inta a police state whair th government has total control an th citizens have no freedoms.
Spike, I was thankin it but didn't articulate it. But I do agree scannin would be a problem fer many people an it's still not foolproof. Thanks fer bringin yer thoughts ta th table. At least yer considerin alternatives an that's good. That way we can hopefully come up with somethang that works better than what's happenin now.
Nice comment...but that would do nothing....what would stop the jerk from stickin his gun in my back and saying "Open the door with your card for me so I can rob you and this bank"....NOTHING!
or you are not a customer of that particular bank
or someone holds the door open for a robber walking in behind them
Also tough for someone with bad arthritis, who has difficulty with removing their cards from wallet or even swiping it
or it is a branch inside a grocery store
or...
Hopefully all of ya have noticed that this kind of crime is on th upswing across th nation an not just isolated ta th City of Tracy.
Actually, considerin thair slightly understaffed, our police do a pretty good job. Bringin thair staff up ta th national average of cops on th beat ta number of citizens protected would do some good but regardless, unless ya place a cop on every corner with th firepower an inclination ta act, yer not really gonna change it.
Yer police is great fer takin reports an findin th culprits after th crime is committed. Th history of Tracy PD in this area proves it. So since they can't be everywhair at once babysittin th public, it falls on th public ta protect themselves frum somethang like this.
Unfortunately after everythang is done passively ta prevent these thangs, like an armed guard inside th bank fer instance an more electronic surveillance, it means that citizens are gonna have ta take th first contact stance of protectin themselves. Can't really do that when yer at th mercy of someone who is armed an has ya outgunned. An ya know these two knew that now didn't ya.?
Cont:
It's pretty much a historical fact, gun totin, law abidin citizens are a deterrent ta crime an don't often commit crimes of violence themselves.
Note: Guns don't kill people, people kill people usin guns an law abidin citizens don't kill people who don't need ta be killed fer th protection of th rest of society.
This isn't Tombstone.
If someone did confront these guys with guns, they would simply run away anyways.
An why is it difficult? Ya first need ta understand th problem before ya can fix it.
Note: I did not say EVERY citizen I specifically said "legal an trained people with no evidence of a violent criminal background an no evidence of mental instability," which conforms ta Federal Law AND the Constitution of the United States of America.
I recognize that not everyone should be allowed to own and carry a firearm. And yes, this isn't Tombstone, its much better.
Wobbley
Did ya ever thank that if these guys knew that they might be confronted with guns they can't see that they might be inclined not ta commit th crime in th first place?
Don't know about you but if I thought I might get killed in such an incident I'd have second thoughts about doin it.
Law abiding citizens are not a threat they are a deterrent an yes, use more cameras an technology that's good but it is expensive.
"In my opinion legal an trained people with no evidence of a violent criminal background"
and how many mass shootings have we had by someone with no prior history of "violent criminal background"? Guy that just blew away that cop had only a prior DUI many years ago, other than that, he didn't even have any speeding tickets apparently.
"an no evidence of mental instability" - so you want them to be able to go thru your medical records? Say a few years ago, you lost your job and got a divorce, you were a bit depressed, now you are fine, new job, new girl.
Let me ask, do ya live in a perfect world? I know I don't. An I know that every idea has some flaws. Th trick is ta come up with somethang that's better than what ya have now.
Do normal people go off th deep end an kill usin guns? Most cartenly. Th trick is ta determine what th percentages are as compared ta th honest law abiding normal folk do that virtually goes on unreported.
Not everyone that owns a gun is a criminal with criminal intent. If we thought that everyone was criminally minded thair would be a lot of thangs we wouldn't be permitted ta do, like drivin a car fer example.
Technology might be an possible solution if properly used but thairs th rub, how ta properly use it an how ta keep th costs of usin it down. Then ya gotta determine if it really works.
Take safes fer example. Years ago they were strong boxes with keys, but criminals found a way around that. Then bank tellers were given a little switch below th counter so they could alert police when bein robbed. So robbers simply worked faster an still got away. Safes went frum th standard of a spinnin combination lock ta somethang that could only be unlocked at specific times. Still th criminals found a way around that.
So, what's th answer? What works th best? What is affordable an practical that th majority of our citizens live with without infringin on thair right of life, liberty an th PURSUIT of happiness?
I don't have those answers but I am willin ta entertain suggestions that might work. So, what's yer suggestion other than just leavin thangs th way they are so we can explore th positives an negatives of those suggestions. Who knows, we might just accidentally stumble on somethang that works. Wouldn't that be grand?
I agree with everyone whose stated that Tracy PD is outgunned. In 3.5 years of me living in my neighborhood, I have yet to hear anything or see anything bad happen and cops patrol my streets all the time. I'm still beside myself that two guys on their feet can get away. Seems like they took tips from the guys that hit the credit union with automatic weapons some time ago (I think they were from Stockton or something like that).
Tracy citizens, arm your selves, the Police are out gunned and can not help us!!
Bring our troops home to take care of our borders and city streets until we get all the scum off the grid.
Also, the Police that follow up on bank robberies, are *not* the local PD, it is the FBI as a bank robbery is automatically a Federal crime. Just one of the many reasons that make bank robbery one of the stupedist crimes out there.
Bank employee assaulted
Gunman robs 7-11
Armed robbery at MacArthur Dr market
Man found bleeding in the street
It seemed like things were quieting down for awhile but now it sure looks like things are getting out of control. This is not a critique of the current chief but according to some people in this town these problems were the fault of the prior chief which leads me to ask, who's fault is it now?