ARMED men fleeing a bank they just robbed yesterday morning, shot and lightly injured a man who attempted to chase them, police said.
The incident happened at 8.30am as the two hooded men exited the Marfin Popular bank branch in Aglandjia they just robbed of around €40,000.
Two members of the public tried to stop the robbers who turned around and fired their sawn-off shotguns at them, injuring one in the leg and causing damage to cars parked outside the branch.
“Thank goodness it wasn’t anything serious, he suffered some injuries to the right shin but the patient was treated and the x-rays don’t show anything serious,” said Nicosia General Hospital doctor Phivos Costopoulos.
The robbers boarded a getaway car driven by a third suspect, waiting for them outside.
Police said the white Toyota Corolla with licence plate HKH710 was stolen earlier yesterday.
The two robbers spoke in broken Greek, police said.
According to a customer, present at the time of the robbery, one of the perpetrators stayed close to the entrance while the second one threatened to kill the other customers if they did not step away from the tellers. “We were trembling with fear,” said one woman customer who was in the bank at the time. “Do you know what it’s like to have a gun pointed at you? I dropped everything I was holding – my purse, my bag, my glasses.”
One of the robbers went behind the counter and asked for the money to be placed in a bag he held.
The robber hit a teller who delayed with the barrel of his gun.
“They broke my van window,” said another man who had been in the bank, pointing to his van for the TV cameras. “They immobilised us, then went over to the till and took the money while they held a gun on us,” said a man.
Police immediately launched a manhunt, assisted by a helicopter, and also made public appeals broadcasted on the radio in a bid to locate the robbers.
Nicosia police chief Kypros Michaelides said members of the public should avoid acting the hero in such instances as it might endanger their lives.
In 2007 a man was shot and killed as he chased an armed bank robber through the busy streets of Larnaca. Iacovos Kyriacou, 46, who operated a car rental service next door to the bank that was robbed jumped into his car and gave chase to the robber. The robber then turned his moped into a supermarket car park where Kyriacou managed to knock him over. As he got out of his car to confront the robber, the man shot him in the stomach, then ran into a nearby field. Kyriacou died from his injuries later that day.
