Alabama Self-Defense: Customer shoots at bank robber during morning Homewood holdup :: 09/20/2016

A masked man robbed a Homewood bank Monday morning, forcing everyone inside to huddle in a corner and hand over their cell phones.

As he fled Wells Fargo on West Valley Avenue, the robber – with a piece of cloth wrapped around his hand as if to cover a weapon - turned back toward the customers and employees and pointed that hand at them. That's when customer Eric Dial jumped into action, grabbing his weapon and firing a shot.

"I was thinking a lot of people's lives were in danger and my life was in danger too,'' Dial said. "He pointed whatever he had at us, so I fired a shot at him."

The ordeal began at 10:30 a.m. Homewood police Chief Tim Ross said officers responded to the bank on a report of a robbery in progress. When they arrived on the scene, the robber was coming out the front door. He matched the description police had been given, and he was taken into custody without incident.

His name has not been released pending formal charges.

Dial said he had just walked into the bank to cash a check and was waiting in line for his turn. "At the time the teller called me up, a guy came in behind with a mask and demanded money,'' Dial said. "He made everybody get in the corner and then went to the tellers getting money. They were frightened. It was a messed up situation."

Both Ross and Dial said the robber made that threatening gesture before he left. That's when Dial fired the shot that ended up hitting the lobby couch. Dial was calm when he talked about the experience, but said that wasn't the case when it was happening. "This is my first experience with a bank robbery,'' he said.

"I just feel like I was able to save somebody's life and mine, and I hope I don't ever have to experience that again," Dial said. "I'm glad nobody got hurt."

http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/09/customer_shoots_at_bank_robber.html