-By Warner Todd Huston
A would be bank robber in Trimble, Missouri, got a bit of a shock on March 1 after brandishing a toy gun in an attempt to rob a bank only to get shot in the face by a teller toting a real gun.
The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri reported that Michael Oliva was arrested and charged for attempting to rob the First Security Bank of Trimble as well as leading police on a high-speed chase.
The U.S. Attorney states that Oliva entered the bank with a realistic plastic replica of a pistol and ordered a female bank teller to give him what was in her cash drawer. Instead of complying, the woman fell to the floor in fear.
As she began to crawl away, Oliva ran around the side of the counter still brandishing his toy gun in a threatening manner.
Seeing the frightened employee, a second bank employee ran out from an office with a .357 Smith & Wesson pistol and fired shots at the assailant. Oliva was hit once in the jaw and ran out of the bank leaving a long trail of blood.
The alleged robber made it to his car and drove off, but police soon caught up to him and gave chase at times reaching 100 miles per hour. After a time, Oliva pulled over, bleeding profusely, and asked the police, “You guys going to let me die?”
Oliva was taken to a nearby hospital to treat his wounds.
The bank employee is not likely to be charged as he had a concealed carry permit.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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