Workers At Bank Led To Safety Portland Branch Reopened About Four Hours After Drama

FBI agents tipped off managers at a Portland bank branch early Tuesday about a potential robbery by the men who are now charged with Spokane Valley’s bombings and robberies.

They called officials at the southeast Portland branch of U.S. Bank about 8:15 a.m. and told them to lock their doors, said Dick Beyl, assistant manager for the bank corporation.

The agents warned the bankers to move their employees to a safe location.

Although many employees were worried and wondered what was happening, Beyl said, they were “very professional, very orderly.”

The U.S. Bank branch in the Spokane Valley at Sprague and Mullan was robbed twice in the last six months, and bombed during one of the robberies.

Like its Spokane counterpart, the Portland branch is located near a major arterial, is surrounded by retail businesses, which account for a large chunk of its customers, and employs a staff of about 20. Interstate 205 is nearby.

Beyl said he could only guess why U.S. Bank has been targeted.

“There’s always the speculation that it was because of the ‘U.S.’ in the name,” he said. “It would be nice to know.”

The branch, which normally opens at 10 a.m., was closed to the public for about four hours before reopening Tuesday, shortly after word came of the suspects’ arrest in Union Gap, Wash.

By the time three men were arrested, FBI agents had called the branch on the corner of 102nd and Washington to let the bank know the robbers had left the area.

Beyl said the bank employees were calm on Wednesday. “They seem to have recovered,” he said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MORE DETAILS ON-LINE Chronological details about the bombing, along with a 14-frame photo sequence of the robbery, are available on-line on Virtually Northwest, a service of The Spokesman-Review. Browse http://www.VirtuallyNW.com and follow the links to “Valley bombing.”