Posted on 09/05/2003 9:06:33 AM PDT by 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.
Bottom line, I think he was in on it, and 3 people were involved total.
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.
My theory is that this girl, the hapless victim, and the heretofore unidentified 3rd person implied in the above quote were all "in on it". I think that the girl approached this co-worker of Wells, with this crazy idea of how to rob a bank and not get caught. She provided details of how much money could be expected (but probably got that amount wrong), and dreamed up the "bomb" bit herself. She probably knew that Wells' co-worker was handy with machinery, thus, could probably build a reasonable looking device that would LOOK like a bomb. Then had her friend tell WElls that it was a "perfect plan", and all you had to do, if you got caught, was tell that someone who you never met before strapped this bomb on your body and forced you to do it.
However, the girl and Well's co-worker had their own plot, probably. Wells' co-worker really DID build a bomb, and they both planned to actually blow up Wells when he returned with the money. (to me, this kind of explains why Wells said he'd "be back later" for the rest of the money, as he thought he wasn't really in any danger. It also explains, to me, why he wasn't really panicked when he was pulled over. He didn't look panicked to me, I saw the video of his explosion myself).
ANYWAY, that's my theory as to what happened. I think that may be something to consider; may be what the FBI is considering, if they're still interviewing the bank employee who was also a friend of Wells' co-worker.
At least it makes for a good movie. hehe
Either that or he hoped that once his employment at the Pizza place was verified the cops would help him get the collar off.
There's too much wierdness to this story. I can't imagine someone giving him a gun if he wasn't involved, but I also can't imagine him letting the bomb go off if he knew how to disarm it.
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