Witness fires shots after bank robbery

No one was hurt as James Tubergen shot into the air Tuesday in an effort to stop two fleeing robbers.

By DEBORAH O'NEIL

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 31, 2001

SEMINOLE -- James Tubergen knew immediately the two young men crouching outside a window of the First National Bank of Florida on Tuesday were up to no good.

In a matter of seconds, the two men -- one in a ski mask -- dashed into the bank at 10899 Park Blvd. around 3:45 p.m. and robbed it at gunpoint, sheriff's officials said.

Tubergen pulled out his .38-caliber handgun and fired into the air. He hoped to stop the two bank robbers as they fled across the parking lot of the strip plaza, which has a nail salon, a chiropractor's office and an H&R Block.

The robbers ditched the bag of cash and escaped in a car. Pinellas County sheriff's officials were hunting for the two men Tuesday night. Tubergen, who has a concealed weapons permit, is not facing any charges, officials said.

No one was hurt.

Tubergen, 56, said he noticed the two young men as he stood outside an office at the plaza waiting for his friend, Sam Ackley, who does maintenance work there. The two robbers ducked between two cars about 20 feet from the bank entrance, he said.

Officials said numerous people saw the two young men before they entered the bank.

"One of the tellers actually saw them out here and thought they were kids skateboarding," said sheriff's Detective Dominick Marchesiello.

The two men ran inside the bank, which officials said had no customers at the time. Tubergen yelled to his friend to call 911.

"They were fast," Tubergen said. "They didn't waste any time. I don't think the whole robbery lasted 45 seconds."

The robbers were described as white men in their late teens or early 20s, one stocky and one slim. Inside the bank, one stood at the door with a handgun, said Sgt. Greg Tita of the Sheriff's Office. The other jumped over the counter, grabbed cash from the tellers' drawers and stuffed it into a bag, Tita said.

They ran from the bank with the bag, but ditched it after a dye pack inside exploded, authorities said. As the robbers ran east across the parking lot to a car parked in a next-door plaza, Tubergen fired two shots.

"I was hoping they would stop," he said. "When I did shoot, that one with the ski mask on -- it never fazed him a bit. But the little taller one stopped and turned around looked at me. I told him, "Stop."

But the man turned and kept running. Tubergen said Ackley, his friend, chased after them. Ackley could not be reached for comment.

Authorities said the two men drove off in a dark red Ford, possibly a 2000 Taurus. They recovered the mask and a bag of cash, but Marchesiello said they had not determined if the men got away with any other money.

Detectives at the scene said that while Tubergen was well-intentioned, his actions are not something others should repeat.

"We don't encourage citizens to fire shots, whether it be warning shots or whatever," Marchesiello said. "Obviously once a shot is fired, it has to come down somewhere."

Tubergen, a Seminole retiree, said he always carries a gun.

"I think everybody should own a gun. I have for years and years," he said. On Tuesday, he added, "I just tried to do the right thing."

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