A man was sentenced to the Anthony Center youthful offender program after being convicted of robbing a bank in the Charleston Town Center Mall.
Antonio Williams, 21, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. had his sentence suspended and has been ordered to complete the youthful offender program.
Billy Gene Reed, 40, and Williams were both arrested shortly after a 8:30 a.m. robbery at United Bank inside the Charleston Town Center Mall.
Nathan Evert was working inside of the mall and saw the robbery unfold.
"I literally saw someone yelling at the girls that were working at the
bank. He was just pointing a gun at them. He had a stocking over his face and
he was kind of going like this," he said.
He said the bank tellers looked frightened.
"The girls were so scared, they were throwing money at them. Literally,
some of the money fell on the ground. Some of it actually fell outside
and another customer came in and brought it back to them," he said.
Reed and Williams fled on foot towards Lee and Washington Streets. Tim
Menningr said he knew something was wrong.
"I seen the two guys walk to the bank over there and I seen one guy
standing at the corner. I thought it looked suspicious. He followed him in the
bank. I came back outside to smoke and I seen them take off running," he
said.
Police were in the area when the call came in. Officers were able to
respond within minutes. They captured Reed and Williams along Donally Street.
Both men shed their clothing and dropped cash along the way. Sergeant
Bobby Eggleton said innocent bystanders collected the cash and turned it in to
police.
"People were coming up to the police officers and handing them bundles
of cash and giving their names and giving all kinds of information about where
these guys went and were they were running. Kudos to the citizens of Charleston,"
he said.
Police have not disclosed how much money was taken.
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