Erie Bank Robber said he would return for rest of 250K(collar bomb would go off in 22 minutes)

Erie Times-News ^ | 9/5/03

[FootBall]

Wells demanded $250,000 Carrying canelike gun, robber waited his turn in line at PNC Bank

Brian Wells, an unassuming, 46-year-old deliveryman who authorities say robbed a bank before a bomb clasped to his chest by a locking metal collar exploded, killing him last Thursday afternoon. (Associated Press)

By Ed Palattella ed.palattella@timesnews.com and KARA RHODES kara.rhodes@timesnews.com

Brian Wells wanted $250,000 from the bank.

He was willing to wait.

He was also prepared to come back.

Wells, with a live bomb locked around his neck and a canelike gun in his hands, walked into the PNC Bank branch on upper Peach Street shortly before 2:40 p.m. on Aug. 28.

Wells waited in line.

His turn came.

He gave the teller a note demanding a quarter of a million dollars.

Wells soon walked out with a bag full of cash. The amount was less than what he wanted.

Before he left, Wells told the teller the device around his neck "is going off in 22 minutes."

Wells also said he would return to get more money.

About 40 minutes later, the bomb around Wells' neck exploded. The blast killed him.

The Erie Times-News reconstructed those events based on the account of a witness who was inside the PNC Bank branch. The newspaper also relied on a source who has been involved in the investigation of Wells' death.

The Erie Times-News interviewed the witness by submitting questions through an intermediary. The witness asked for anonymity.

The witness was behind Wells when he stood in line at the PNC Bank branch in the Summit Towne Centre shopping center. Six customers were in the bank that day, PNC officials said. The bank branch has 12 employees.

The witness' account is the most detailed public description so far of what happened inside the bank. The FBI and other federal, state and local investigators have yet to say whether Wells was forced to rob the bank, as Wells told police who arrested him, or whether Wells was a willing participant in a plot that ended in his death.

The FBI had scheduled a news conference on the case on Thursday. Agents canceled it to "follow other things in the case," said Bob Rudge, the agent in charge of the FBI's Erie office. He declined to elaborate.

In other developments:

The FBI has been exploring whether one of the bank employees was a girlfriend of a man who worked with Wells at Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria, 5154 Peach St., where the 46-year-old Wells was a deliveryman. The source who has been involved in the investigation told the Erie Times-News a bank employee told investigators she was a girlfriend of someone who worked at the pizza parlor.

Asked about the possible relationship between the bank employee and the pizza-shop worker, FBI spokesman Bill Crowley said agents are "exploring all possibilities."

Crowley declined to comment further.

The gunlike device the FBI said Wells was carrying is a canelike weapon capable of firing a single shot, according to law enforcement sources.

According to the witness' account given to the Erie Times-News, Wells was carrying the cane rather than using it as a walking stick when he entered the bank.

The witness said the cane had buttons on it, and Wells threatened no one with the device.

Authorities described the canelike weapon as unusual, and they said the device — like the bomb-holding collar around Wells' neck — appears to have been homemade. Investigators released photos of the collar and locking device on Tuesday, but decided against releasing photos of the canelike weapon on Thursday.

When Wells entered the bank, holding the cane, he waited in line "like a normal customer," according to the witness' account. When his turn came, Wells gave the teller a note handwritten in block letters, the source involved in the investigation said.

Based on the witness' account:

The teller read the note and looked upset. The teller walked away from the desk and returned with a bag. The teller started filling it with cash.

The teller handed Wells the bag. He looked inside and said to the teller, "This isn't a quarter of a million." The teller told Wells she was unable to get more money because it was locked in the vault.

"This thing is going off in 22 minutes," Wells told the teller. Wells was referring to the device around his neck.

According to the witness' account, the witness noticed Wells' neck collar, but thought it was a neck brace. The witness had no idea Wells was wearing a bomb.

Wells asked the teller when the bank would open the vault. The teller said at 3 p.m.

Wells said he would be back for the rest of the money later.

Wells walked out of the bank. He got into his Geo Metro.

The people in the bank called police about the robbery, police said. State police received the call at 2:40 p.m.

Troopers several minutes later pulled over Wells' car just south of the bank. Troopers ordered Wells out of the car and handcuffed him.

"I didn't do it," Wells can be overheard telling the troopers, according to a videotape taken by WJET-TV. "I didn't do anything."

The bomb exploded at 3:18 p.m.

Tim Hahn contributed to this report.

[Paradox]

Can this get any weirder?

[CJ Wolf]

curiouser and curiouser

[mhking]

This thing is getting stranger and stranger by the day.

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[lelio]

Wells asked the teller when the bank would open the vault. The teller said at 3 p.m.
Wells said he would be back for the rest of the money later.

Now that's another weird part of the story. Come back to rob it later?

[FootBall]

Maybe he wanted to get back so the bomb detonation time could be reset. Rob the rest of the money later.

Hard to say what type of thinking process people have when they have a bomb strap to the neck.

BIZARRRE!!!

[GovernmentShrinker]

That detail makes it sound even more likely that he was not doing this willingly. It sounds like a spur of the moment comment from someone afraid that when he gave his "handler" less than the amount requested, he'd be in big trouble, and forced to go back -- either to that bank or a different one -- to get the rest. Nobody who's robbing a bank on their own steam is going to even THINK about going back to the same bank for more in the foreseeable future -- it's get the money and run.

[Peach]

One of the most bizarre cases I've ever heard about.

[Alberta's Child]

Has there been any confirmation on the story in the last few days that he was carrying a concealed weapon? If he was carrying a concealed weapon, then I would tend to think he was acting under his own volition.

[GOP_Proud]

OK. This does it for me. The guy was a nut. Did it all himself or his buddy was in on it too. Give me more infor to change my mind.

He's gt a bomb around his neck and he's saying "I didn't do it".

I'd be screaming and begging and shouting "get this off of me". Loud and seriously emotional. I just didn't get this on the video.

Nothing from the witness about eratic behavior either. I ain't gonna stand in line with a bomb set to go off around my neck.

But, then again, I'm stopping the first chance I get and calling the cops anyway. I'd know by then that I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. I'm NOT going into that bank and wait in line.

[GOP_Proud]

< Nobody who's robbing a bank on their own steam is going to even THINK about going back to the same bank for more in the foreseeable future -- it's get the money and run. >

Gives me the opposite opinion. The guy was just a nut case.

[Revolting cat!]

Wells told the teller the device around his neck "is going off in 22 minutes." 

Wells also said he would return to get more money. 

About 40 minutes later, the bomb around Wells' neck exploded. The blast killed him. 

That'll teach him to lie!

[Charles Henrickson]

Erie.

[mbynack]

Has there been any confirmation on the story in the last few days that he was carrying a concealed weapon?

The cane gun was the concealed weapon.

[Diddle E. Squat]

The cane was the concealed weapon(weapon concealed in the cane). It was homemade, so likely it was given to him after they put the collar on him. This suggests that there were 2 persons, with guns drawn, at the encounter that put the collar on him.

My guess is that one or more persons at the pizza place were involved with criminal types, and came up with this scheme. One had dated the bank employee, and so figured he knew enough about that bank to target it(or maybe the bank employee was in on it, too.) Having worked with the delivery guy who would end up being killed by the bomb, they figured that they knew enough about his personality to count on him reacting in a certain manner.

What I want to know is if the pizza employee who dated the bank employee was the one found dead in his home. Either way, he likely was killed by the criminal types to silence him before he ratted out the whole scheme.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Yes, the FBI has said he was carrying a "cane-like" device capable of firing one bullet, and that it appeared to be homemade, like the bomb.

[skinkinthegrass]

Some bank tranactions require an appointment.

Now that's bad... :(

[fnord]

soundslike a cross between Blazing Saddles and Dog Day Afternoon

[Diddle E. Squat]

No, actually his reaction reinforces the idea that he was used. Think about it, whoever put the bomb on him turned the key to activate it. So now he doesn't want the police to stop him, all he wants is to get away, give the money to the scum, and hope that they'll put the key back in to turn off the bomb.

In his mind, the police don't have the key to stop the bomb, only the thugs who put it on him in the first place. Knowing that, wouldn't your first reaction be to try and get rid of the police ASAP?