Alert witness helped police apprehend suspects: FBI
Authorities are crediting a quick-thinking onlooker for helping them quickly arrest three men who robbed a bank in the city on Wednesday.
The masked men entered the TCF Bank branch, 6410 W. 127th St., about 5 p.m. Wednesday, and announced the robbery, according to the FBI.
It said two stood watch at the door while a third man stuck his gun into a tellers back, ordered her to open the banks vault and also directed another teller to stuff a plastic bag with cash.
The trio made off with about $118,000 and fled in a pickup truck, but a witness who saw them followed the truck and called police, who caught about a mile from the bank, the FBI said.
It said police recovered three guns and some shotgun shells from the truck and found each man wearing a bulletproof vest.
Wali Ali, 64, 4223 S. Prairie Ave., Chicago; Melvin Ratliff, 56, 1201 E. 171st St., South Holland; and James Walker, 51, 513 E. 52nd St., Phoenix, were each charged with aggravated bank robbery.
They are being held without bail pending a hearing next week in federal court in Chicago.
Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services