AGAIN: Man robs ''gun-free'' bank in Dayton high-rise

On July 20, OFCC reported that a "gun-free" Park National Bank branch on the 18th floor of a Dayton high-rise had been robbed. An alert OFCC supporter who works in the building has submitted the following report and commentary, because it has happened again!

November 19, 2004
WHIOTV.com (Ch. 7 Dayton)

A man is behind bars Friday after Dayton police were called to a bank heist. The robbery happened at Park National Bank on the 18th floor of the Miami Valley Tower located at 40 West Fourth Street.

Authorities said the man entered the bank, demanded money and then fled out of the bank toward the elevators. Bank tellers alerted security in the lobby, who then turned the elevators off, but the suspect managed to escape, authorities said.

Investigators said security guards chased the man behind the building, where he was taken into custody with the assistance of a Dayton police officer.

Authorities said the same bank was robbed several months ago and believe this may be the same man who robbed it then. Bank tellers also told police that the suspect was the same man who robbed the bank earlier.

Click on the "Read More..." link below to read commentary from an employee who works in this building.

Comments from a OFCC supporter who works in the Miami Valley Tower:
"Since CCW became law, our building was marked 'no concealed weapons'. Two major area hospitals rent space for information systems, finance and other departments here as well. Hospital policy is 'no weapons on hospital property'.

Once again, we are a building or business targeted by thieves. Our security guards are unarmed. We have been told if we are attacked or in an altercation, they can only call 911.

If this criminal wanted, he could enter ANY floor, go into an office and hold someone hostage.

As a law-abiding CCW permit holder, my 9mm Springfield XD sits locked in my glove box in a garage next to our building."

OFCC commentary:
On these two occasions at the Miami Valley Tower, the owners and tenants of the Miami Valley Tower were lucky. The criminal who targeted them was only pretending to be armed. But they should fear the day when their unarmed security guards confront an armed criminal on his way out of the building, or when hostages they have rendered defenseless are put in harms' way.

"No guns" signs accomplish nothing other than creating an inviting target for criminals. If they continue to refuse to remove their signs, the Park National Bank, these hospitals, and the owners of this building will be responsible for any injuries or deaths that occur to defenseless occupants in the future.

This workers' observation about the potential for a hostage situation in a high rise have already played out in another victim zone - the state of Ohio pre-concealed carry - at a building occupied by the Bureau of Workers' Compensation:

On September 5, 1997, James L. Dailey was convicted and sentenced to two separate three years terms (which ran concurrently), stemming from a hostage-taking incident at the Bureau of Workers' Compensation building!

Upset over a benefit claim that had been denied, Daily entering the Bureau of Workers' Compensation building on November 13, 1996, with a rifle, a shotgun, a handgun, two cans of gasoline and a butane lighter, and proceeded to the 12th floor.

Once there, he took four hostages, including a former FBI agent (all disarmed by Ohio law and BWC policy). The hostages were held for over seven hours. According to one OFCC source, who was working in the building at the time, building "security" prohibited occupants of the rest of the 30-story building from leaving, despite the fire threat.

Dailey was eventually overpowered by one of his hostages, ex-FBI agent James Carter, and taken into custody by the Columbus SWAT.

''It was a hostage situation in the classic sense. He took a great deal of pleasure in pointing that shotgun at my face for seven hours,'' an angry Carter said after the hearing in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

''We have people at Workers' Comp who are still afraid to go to work. It's been extremely difficult for me and my family,'' he said. ''He had three [guns] and bottles of gasoline and a Bic lighter. He said he was going to light up one of the employees on TV and film it while he burned.''

After the attack, workers told the Columbus Dispatch they had complained repeatedly about the lack of security on the floor.
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James Conrad, administrator of the Bureau of Workers' Compensation, told the newspaper the hostage--taking also prompted a threat from a person who identified himself as a former Navy Seal, who said, ''I don't have to come into your building to take out your employees.''