RICHMOND, JAN. 30 -- Two robbers armed with assault rifles and a revolver burst into a bank and opened fire here today, killing one teller and wounding three other people before fleeing from a lobby littered with blood, spent shell casings and loose cash.
Authorities called to the red-brick, colonial-style NationsBank three miles east of downtown said it was one of the most violent bank robberies the city has seen. Tonight, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies were conducting a massive hunt for the robbers across Virginia.
The incident in the Montrose Heights neighborhood began about 9:30 a.m., when the robbers opened fire on two tellers, a security guard and the bank's sole customer almost immediately after entering the bank, police said. Their attack left the walls full of pock marks and numerous .223-caliber or similar shell casings on the bloody floor, agents said.
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The gunmen told those in the bank to "get down" before opening fire and killing the teller, Lori A. Robinson, 23, with a shot to the chest, Richmond Deputy Police Chief Fred Russell said. Customer John Wiggins and the other teller, a 21-year-old woman whom police would not identify, also were wounded. The security guard, Floyd H. Dean, 34, returned fire and was shot as well.
After taking money during the confusion, the robbers -- one described as being 18 to 20 years old; the other 20 to 27 -- initially tried to escape out the bank's back door. But they were surprised outside by a Richmond police officer who had been flagged down by people who had heard shots.
After riddling the officer's car with gunfire, the robbers ran back through the lobby and out the front door. A second officer responding to the robbery chased them across a three-lane highway, over a five-foot stone wall and onto the grounds of a national cemetery, federal agents said.
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"The tellers who were shot . . . would have complied with the bank robbers' request, but they didn't have a chance," said Stanley Klein, special agent in charge of the FBI in Richmond.
"They shot coming in, they shot going out the back . . . and they shot leaving," Richmond police spokeswoman Brenda Hughes said.
The victims were taken to Medical College of Virginia Hospital, authorities said. Dean and Wiggins were in surgery tonight, and the teller was being treated for wounds to the face and shoulder. None of the wounds appeared to be life-threatening.
NationsBank spokeswoman Julie Turner Davis said the bank was not releasing information for security reasons, but had given surveillance camera photographs to police.
Klein and Russell said they could not recall any robbery here with so many casualties, and said the gunmen's actions were baffling.
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"They knew what they were doing when they were inside. What provoked them to fire their weapons so soon, we don't know," Klein said.
The robbers got away with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said. But a trail of bills through the cemetery indicated that a large amount of money was dropped as the robbers fled. Police also found a dye pack in the cemetery.
About 25 FBI agents from Richmond, Fredericksburg and Charlottesville joined more than 50 Richmond and Henrico County police combing area neighborhoods and highways this morning by airplane and car.
CAPTION: Authorities gather at a NationsBank branch in Richmond after robbery.
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