Staff in vault foils holdup

February 24, 2007
BY ANGELA CAPUTO Daily Southtown

Two masked robbers and their getaway driver left an Oak Lawn bank empty-handed after the employees locked themselves in the vault.

Bank employees saw the men pull ski masks over their faces as they approached TCF Bank at 10350 S. Pulaski about 6 p.m. Thursday, FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said.

Before the robbers made it through the door, nearly all of the employees fled into a vault for safety. But the vault door locked before one employee, a loan officer, could make it in.

Armed with a handgun, the two robbers jumped over the counter in search of cash. But they failed to look in the teller drawers where the money was kept, the FBI said.

"They didn't get any money," Yates said.

The two thieves, one wearing a yellow construction vest, then fled in a white minivan, driven by a third person.

Oak Lawn police Division Chief Keith Raspovich said the investigation has been turned over to the FBI.

Sun-Times News Group
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