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The Baconia Police Department is crediting their city’s fire department with foiling a bank robbery that occurred earlier today, which resulted in closing out case files on five other recent unsolved bank robberies. The humble firefighters, however, insist it was nothing more than bad timing and good luck.
Firefighters shopping at a grocery store
The incident began when Chris Shiherlis walked into the Community One Credit Union location in Richard’s Grocery Mart on Seventh Avenue. Unknown to Shiherlis, the crew from BFD Station 3 was just a minute behind him on their way to do some grocery shopping.
Shiherlis, the suspect in multiple bank and credit union robberies over the last three months. Every location he is believed to have robbed have been small branch offices located inside big box stores or strip malls. In each of the robberies, Shiherlis had been discreetly brandishing a firearm but never directly threatened to hurt anyone nor has he caused any physical injuries.
As in each of the prior robberies, Shiherlis walked up to a teller, placed a note on the counter along with a duffle bag, and opened his jacket to display an easily un-holstered firearm. He never said a word; all of the notes were identically written as “Don’t say a word, don’t raise an alarm, just give me all the money in your drawer and let me walk away.” With the duffel bag full of money in tow, Shiherlis then walked out of the grocery store and returned to his car, which he had parked in the fire lane, close to the main doors. The assumption is he did this to make a fast getaway.
When the firefighters arrived in their engine, they parked it right up to his bumper. The fire
apparatus, however, did not block in vehicle. Captain Rob Drucker was outside of the cab calling in the plate number to dispatch when the robber walked outside.
Drucker stated our reporter, “I am standing there talking on the radio to dispatch asking send someone from the PD over. Then I feel someone bump into me. I turn and we lock eyes… he then looks at my radio. Next thing I know he puts his hands in the air, and slowly drops down to his knees.”
The suspect elected to remain silent but it is believed he thought the fire department captain was a police officer.
“Dispatch then announces they got a bank alarm from our location and before I know it the engineer is standing next to me with an axe in his hand. We essentially held the guy at axe point till the cops came to arrest him.” The firefighters then resumed their grocery shopping.
Shiherlis is currently being held in Baconia County Jail pending a bail hearing.
