A Hug to Stop a Bank Robber

A man with a checkered past talks a troubled soul down

- Robert Kiener

“Hmm,” Michael Armus muttered to himself. He’d just set foot into the Bank of the West in Woodland, California, and felt the tension. “Something’s not right.”

It was a little before 11 on a sunny May morning in 2023, and the 69-year-old retired auto-body painter was there to deposit a check. Normally, whenever Armus visited, he’d be greeted with loud salvos of “Hi, Mr. Armus!” from the tellers, with whom he loved to banter and share his admittedly corny jokes.

But today, none of the tellers acknowledged him. Nor did the bank’s manager, who sat at his desk with his head down and seemed to be whispering into his telephone. As Armus approached the teller windows, he noticed the three employees had similar worried looks on their faces. He heard one teller whisper to another, “He’s got a note.”

Armus looked to his left and noticed a man at another window with his striped T-shirt pulled up to partially conceal his face. This is a robbery, thought Armus.