The three U.S. Bancorp branches in Norfolk, Neb., remained closed Friday and were to stay closed over the weekend after the murders of five Thursday at a U.S. Bank branch in an unusually violent botched robbery.
The Minneapolis company issued a statement of mourning Friday and said that it had made grief counselors available and set up a memorial fund for the victims' families.
"We're all really sad," spokeswoman Teri Charest said. "Even though it happened in Nebraska, we're feeling it all over the company."
Four employees and a customer were killed. The employees were Lisa Bryant, 29; Lola Elwood, 43; Jo Mausbach, 42; and Samuel Sun, 50. The customer was Evonne Tuttle, 37, of Stanton, Neb. An injured customer was treated at a hospital and released.
Ms. Bryant, a personal banker, had been with the bank since 1996. Ms. Elwood, the assistant branch manager in charge of sales and services at the branch, had been with U.S. Bank since 1989. Ms. Mausbach, a teller, had been with the bank since 1985, and Mr. Sun, a teller coordinator, since 1994.
The death toll was the largest in a bank robbery in years. Killings of employees and customers are relatively rare in bank robberies, though deaths of suspected perpetrators are more common: According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 19 of the 23 who died in bank robberies in 2000 were the suspects. The FBI said it did not have 2001 numbers available.
The last multiple-death bank robbery was in June 1998 at Iberville Savings and Trust Bank in Napoleonville, La., according to the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.
The FBI confirmed earlier this year that it had channeled resources away from fighting bank robberies and similar crime to focus more on terrorism. There were 8,766 reported robberies of banks and credit unions in 2001, the most since 1993. The FBI does not have 2002 numbers but said anecdotal evidence suggests that robberies are up again, especially in rural areas.
In U.S. Bancorp's Friday statement, president and chief executive Jerry A. Grundhofer said: "This is a sad day for all members of the U.S. Bank family and we offer our deepest sympathies and condolence to the families and friends of the five people who were victims of this senseless crime. We at U.S. Bank will do whatever we can and make every effort to help the families of the victims. Words cannot express our sorrow."
Four suspects, all from Nebraska, were caught and each was charged with five counts of first-degree murder. They are Jose Sandoval, 23; Jorge A. Galindo, 21; Erick Fernando Vela, 21; and Gabriel Rodriguez, 26. Mr. Sandoval is from Norfolk and the other three suspects are from Madison.
Police in O'Neill, Neb., arrested Mr. Sandoval, Mr. Galindo, and Mr. Vela within a few hours after the robbery attempt; Mr. Rodriguez was arrested Thursday night.
