Vanessa Bedford thought the bank teller’s facial expression looked funny Thursday morning when he suddenly closed his station as a stocky, dark-haired man walked away from it.
A manager at the Bank of America appeared behind the counter near where Bedford, an educational graduate student at the University, waited to finish her transaction.
“There’s been an incident, and we are sorry for the inconvenience,” she said to Bedford, telling her that she and about two dozen other customers couldn’t leave the bank.
They had just witnessed a robbery.
Running errands around Eugene, Bedford visited the customer-packed Bank of America branch at 201 E. 11th Ave. at approximately 11:30 a.m. to transfer funds.
Paying no attention to the man beside her, she continued to look at his teller, whom she believed she might have known from somewhere.
After the male customer left, the teller shut down and the manager ordered everyone to stay put.
About 15 to 20 minutes later, a police officer arrived, asking witnesses what had happened.
“Does a white windbreaker mean anything to you?” the officer asked Bedford.
Stunned at the situation, Bedford admitted that she knew nothing.
But, Eugene police said, the customer no one had paid much attention to flashed a handgun at the teller before demanding that he hand over a still-undisclosed sum.
The suspect, described by police as a white male in his 40s, received money from the teller and left – the fourth bank robbery in Eugene this month.
Thursday’s incident increases the total to 20 this year.
Police spokeswoman Kerry Delf said the number of robberies in 2006 already contrasts drastically to the eight total bank robberies in 2005, a 62.5-percent increase.
Delf said the amount of bank robberies usually fluctuates, but the “extreme spike” is strange.
“We just have had an unusual amount of bank robberies this summer,” Delf said.
Bedford calmly remained in the bank for 45 minutes while two detectives scoured for fingerprints.
“I was never scared because the Bank of America employees made us feel comfortable the whole time,” she said. “It was really impressive.”
Police have yet to catch the suspect. Anyone with information should contact Detective Tracey Belshee at (541) 682-5835.
Editor’s note: Vanessa Bedford is the sister of Emerald Managing Editor Molly Bedford.