Second Robbery Has Shaken Employees Three Have Left Valley Branch Of U.S. Bank, Tension Has Risen For Others

The image of masked, armed men in fatigues bursting through the front door of a Spokane Valley U.S. Bank branch had faded.

A hole ripped in the lobby floor by a pipe bomb was gone. Damaged work stations were repaired. Everyone had returned to work after the robbery.

It was back to business as usual at the Sprague and Mullan branch.

“The first week, some (employees) were reluctant to discuss it with customers and so forth, but as we went on, it sort of went out of mind,” said a bank official.

Then it happened again. Masked men with guns robbed the branch little more than three months later.

Now three employees have left the branch, bank officials said Friday. The rest are still deciding if they will do the same.

”(The mood) is clearly different than after the first robbery,” the bank official said. “People are frightened. It’s going to take us longer to rebound from this.”

Two U.S. Bank officials agreed to talk Friday for the first time about the mood of the branch employees. But fearing possible retaliation, the officials did so only if they weren’t identified.

The branch was first robbed April 1. A bomb exploded at The Spokesman-Review’s Valley office, apparently serving as a diversion for that robbery.

Planned Parenthood’s Valley office was bombed before the July 12 bank robbery. Sketches of suspects seen leaving the women’s health clinic and bank resemble those done after the first bombings and robbery.

A task force of 50 federal agents and Spokane County detectives is investigating the cases. It is looking into a possible link between eight men arrested in Western Washington for conspiring to build pipe bombs and the Valley bombings. No arrests have been made.

Bank officials declined to comment on specific details about the two robberies, but did acknowledge that there are similarities.

“The robbers came in very much like they did the first time,” one official said. “It was basically the same drill.”

One of the most troubling details about the robberies is the feeling that the robbers seemed familiar with their surroundings.

“It appeared maybe that they had been there before,” the official said.

Employees now watch customers more closely. They are sensitive to anything out of the ordinary.

Visions of the robbers taking over the bank replay in their minds. Those who feel comfortable enough to talk about the robberies do so guardedly, officials said.

The two employees who transferred out now perform administrative duties. They no longer feel comfortable working at a branch office.

Guards now stationed inside and outside the branch, while a reminder of the violence to people who drive by, reassure employees who have stayed.

Cards and flowers from well-wishers have also helped in the emotional healing process, said another bank official who also asked not to be named.

But the nightmares remain.

Visions of men waving their guns while they herded employees and customers into the lobby are vivid, the bank officials said.

The robberies also have been hard on the families of employees. Many expressed concern about their husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter returning to work.

Gone is the “once in a lifetime” attitude that allowed employees to speak relatively easily with customers about the first robbery.

“We’ll all feel a lot better when the robbers are apprehended,” one official said.

, DataTimes