By Thomas Tracy
When it comes to robbing banks, this was a hard first lesson to receive. A 27-year-old man – who police sources describe as a ‘complete novice’ to the criminal game — was shot in the abdomen Monday during a half-baked attempt to rob a teller at a Brooklyn Heights bank. His weapon of choice? A knife, said baffled police, who found Andy Wilson’s threats to harm a teller lacked teeth when you consider the thick plexi-glass between them. Officials said that Wilson, a resident of the 100 block of Rockaway Avenue, entered the Citibank at 181 Montague Street at 10 a.m. on February 5. Witnesses said that Wilson waited anxiously to speak to a teller for a few moments and then exploded into a firestorm of activity, cursing at the teller and demanding that she hand over all the money she had in the cash drawer. Never in any real danger, the teller hit the alarm. As cops scrambled to the bank, Wilson pulled out a knife and began banging on the teller windows, witnesses told police. He reportedly threw a bag over the teller windows, demanding that employees fill it with cash and was in the process of kicking in the door leading to the teller station when police arrived at the scene. Sources from the 84th Precinct said that Wilson refused to drop his weapon after repeated demands by arriving police officers. Wilson was shot when he allegedly lunged at the officers, according to the complaint filed with the precinct. Cops fired only one round, which hit Wilson in the abdomen. He was still conscious when paramedics charged him off to Lutheran Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition after treatment. Police said that there were about six people in the bank when the failed raid began. One of the witnesses, 43-year-old Khamis Elsayed, told reporters that he knew something was about to happen. Standing behind Wilson, Elasayed noticed that the 28-year-old “was looking back and forth and up and down.” “It was very unusual. I knew something was strange,” Elsayed told the Post. “Then I saw a knife in his right hand. He was holding it in his right hand near his pocket. And then he started lifting it up. That's when I ran.” Wilson was charged with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and criminal mischief. As this paper went to press, Wilson, who has no priors in Brooklyn, was still in the hospital and had yet to be arraigned. Sources said that Wilson has never been arrested for bank robbery, and has not been connected to any neighborhood bank robberies. Cops said that the Monday robbery was one of three bank robberies that took place in the area. Officials said that a 6’, 200-pound black male wearing a black waist length jacket and blue baseball cap robbed the Sovereign Bank, located at the corner Court Street between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue for $2,000 on January 22 after threatening note to a teller. On January 29, two men tried to rob the Washington Mutual Savings Bank at 192 Smith Street by passing a threatening note to a teller, but ran off before any money was handed over.
