Police rushed into a Montague Street bank on Monday and shot a berserk bandit who tried to rob the security-glass-protected branch with a knife.
The alleged robber, 27-year-old Andy Wilson of Brownsville, walked into the Citibank branch near the corner of Clinton Street, waited in line and then brandished a 12-inch knife at the teller, who was protected behind the bulletproof glass.
Khamis Elsayed, a popular coffee vendor on the street who had come into the bank to make change, was standing behind Wilson, and saw him reach for the knife.
“I saw him looking back and forth and up and down. It was very strange,” Elsayed said. “Then I saw a knife in his right hand. He started lifting it up, and that’s when I ran.”
Wilson demanded money and went berserk when the teller refused to comply, cops said. She hit the silent alarm instead as Wilson screamed, “Give me the money!” and banged repeatedly on her protective shield.
Within minutes, cops in helmets and flak jackets had stormed the building, briefly giving Montague Street the look of a siege.
When Wilson lunged at the cops, one of the officers shot him in the stomach, bringing down the deranged man with one round.
“The cops pointed their guns,” said witness Ronald Pritchard, who added that the officers did their best to talk Wilson down before shooting him.
“He didn’t drop it, [so] they shot him and kicked the knife away.”
Wilson was handcuffed, strapped to a wheelchair and then taken to Lutheran Hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery.
He is in stable condition and has been charged with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and criminal mischief.
