July 21, 2023
By Rachel Scofield

On July 11, a man wearing a medical mask and a black beanie walked into the Heartland Bank at 421 Hill Road North and handed the teller a note that read:

“I need 15,000$ all 100$ and 50$ do not make any sudden moves or react crazy. I will shoot you first and continue to shoot everyone else. Thank you.”

The teller set the note on the chair behind her, then opened her drawer.

Per the police report, the man kept whispering “hurry!”

She handed him the cash from the drawer along with a dye packet.

“That it?” he asked.

She told him that was all the money that she had in her drawer which totaled $2,151.00.

He turned and walked out.

She at once told her coworkers that they had just been robbed. As the police were being called, the teller watched the man walk through the parking lot.

The dye pack exploded and emitted a cloud of red smoke. When the robber reached the Pickerington Run shopping center, he began to run. He ducked behind the building and was out of sight.

The bank’s security director explained that the dye packet included a chemical similar to tear gas and an explosive similar to a road flare. Any skin which may have contacted the dye would be burnt and colored red.

However, the teller told police that the robber had been wearing a long sleeve work shirt and “gardening gloves”.

Police believe that the suspect may have left the area in a light-colored SUV.

No customers were in the bank at the time of the robbery.