Police commissioner in Philly anti-gun

[2000silverz28]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071005/ap_on_re_us/armored_car_shooting

PHILADELPHIA - Two armored car guards were shot and killed by a robber as they removed deposits from a bank ATM in a brazen daylight heist Thursday, setting off a sweeping search for the killer that shut down a nearby mall and several schools.

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After hours of searching, authorities had few leads and only a sketchy description of the gunman, who police said approached the guards and fired without saying a word.

"He just came out initially and just assassinated them, that fast," Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

The robber approached the car from behind shortly after 8 a.m., shot one guard in the chest, then went around the vehicle and shot the second guard as he tried to unholster his gun, police said.

Johnson said neither the victims nor a third guard who was injured fired a shot.

"There was no physical contact at all. There was just firing, it was an assassination," Johnson said.

The gunman fired at the cab of the Loomis armored car before fleeing in a black Acura TL sedan, police said.

Johnson said surveillance tape from the Wachovia bank's security camera and another northeast Philadelphia business showed the robber getting out of his car and putting on gloves before killing William Widmaier, 65, and Joseph Alullo, 54.

Widmaier, a Philadelphia police officer from 1966 to 1989, and Alullo, who served on the police force from 1973 to 2000, were assigned to the same district, where they became friends, Johnson said.

Widmaier was shot once in the chest, and Alullo was shot three times in the chest and abdomen, police said.

The third guard was grazed by shattered glass as the robber tried to shoot through the armored car, Loomis spokesman Mark Clark said. That guard was treated at a hospital for lacerations and released, a spokeswoman said. Authorities said he was 69 but did not release his name.

All three Loomis guards were armed, Clark said. The injured guard radioed for help after his co-workers were shot, the company said.

Widmaier was married with adult children and Alullo was married with three daughters, Loomis said in a news release. The men worked out of the company's branch in Pennsauken, N.J.

"These were experienced, dependable guys who have dedicated a great part of their lives to serving their community," said Cal Murri, president of Loomis U.S. "It is a terrible loss for us all."

A short time after the shootings, police recovered an empty duffel bag behind the Turf Club, an off-track betting parlor directly behind the bank, Johnson said. Police believe that the bag came from the armored car. Johnson said he did not know how much money the shooter got away with.

The mall where the bank is located was temporarily shut down, and police were stopping motorists leaving the area as they searched for the gunman. Several schools in the area were locked down.

Police initially said they were looking for four suspects, but Johnson said it appeared there was only one robber. Police had no explanation for the discrepancy.

Johnson said police and FBI investigators were reviewing surveillance video from the bank, which is at a busy intersection of shops and other businesses.

Police showed cropped still frames from the bank surveillance tape that show a man wearing a yellow baseball cap pointing a handgun toward the front of the ATM. FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said the full view of the scene was being withheld out of respect for the victims' families.

Johnson blamed the loss of life on the availability of handguns in Philadelphia and around the country. Speaking of an international police chief's conference he recently attended, he said: "Every other country has the same problems we have. The one problem they didn't have is our gun problem ... A robbery with a knife or a baseball bat, somebody might have been injured. A robbery with a gun, somebody's killed."

[jgrauman]

65 years old?! 54 years old?! no offense to the age, but come on, that's asking for a robbery. First Tennessee, no more than 100 yards from my house, has been robbed twice in the last year at gun point. they have armed "security guards" that work there as well. these guys carry revolvers they've probably never shot and open the door for people. oh, and they are out of shape and at least 50. again, no offense to the age, but that's no deterant to rob a bank, that's a free pistol to the robber. everytime one of these guys opens the door for me while standing BEHIND it i think, " if i kick that door, you're going down." put a trained man with an AR on an armored truck or at the door to a bank and see how many people try to rob it. crooks are the best at spotting weakness, they have learned to find it all their lives, that's how they survive. "shot one guard in the chest, then went around the vehicle and shot the second guard as he tried to unholster his gun, police said." no disrespect to the guards that lost their lives, but they were out of their league if a single man took out three of them with a handgun. rather than looking at this for what it is, a security company that does not protect their employees with proper training, the SOB's turn it into anti-gun propoganda.

[Marswolf]

65 years old?! 54 years old?! no offense to the age, but come on, that's asking for a robbery.

Hey! I resemble that remark!!!

Actually I agree with you. Getting old and gray makes you look like an easier target, whether you are or not. Thugs look for easy marks and age is one of the considerations they factor in.

This is an excellent argument for people to have a concealed carry handgun as they get older. Some body language training helps too. An aggressive posture can tell the BGs to look for someone else.

[DaveTN]

Lets review....

The cause:

1. Availability of guns.

2. Old guys working as guards.

The fix:

1. Outlaw guns.

2. Hire twenty something year old Internet warriors that have spent eight hours smokin’ and jokin’ at the range that will work for $10 an hour.

Makes perfect sense to me.

[molonlabetn]

Why place any blame on anyone other than the perpetrator?

I suspect that the situational awareness of the guards had far more to do with their lack of effective reaction, than their age.

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

Why place any blame on anyone other than the perpetrator?

Geez Molon, don't you know that he "obviously" came from a bad home and only turned to robbery because "the man" was keeping him down? He couldn't possibly be responsible for his actions. Because of society, its actually your fault. How dare you be so intolerant?

By the way, I also blame Ford, GM, and the rest of the "evil auto lobby" for all of the drunken driving deaths........

For those who didn't figure it out by now, I am, of course, being totally sarcastic.

[jgrauman]

molon, that's what i said, age was the aspect that the crooks look at as a weakness

I suspect that the situational awareness of the guards had far more to do with their lack of effective reaction, than their age.

a security company that does not protect their employees with proper training

yeah dave, that's exactly what i said. and there's nothing about age of the trained man, just a TRAINED man.

Hire twenty something year old Internet warriors that have spent eight hours smokin’ and jokin’ at the range that will work for $10 an hour.

put a trained man with an AR on an armored truck or at the door to a bank and see how many people try to rob it.

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

UPDATE

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A convicted bank robber charged with killing two armored car guards had spotted the vehicle on the road and followed it to an ATM, where he shot them as the serviced the cash machine, a homicide detective said Saturday.

Mustafa Ali, 36, of Philadelphia, executed the two retired Philadelphia police officers without saying a word, police have said.

"He follows the truck, he sees an opportunity and he takes it," said the detective, who worked on the case but requested anonymity because he is not a supervisor and is not authorized to comment publicly.

Ali owned the dark Acura used in the heist, although the FBI had not been able to glean the license plate number from the surveillance film, the detective said. Ali instead became a suspect based on tips called in from the public.

Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, whose department has struggled to solve murder cases amid a 'stop snitching' culture among criminals and witnesses, thanked the public for stepping up in this case.

"Within an hour, we started getting information from citizens," Johnson said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "(Ali) will never walk the streets, hopefully, again in his lifetime."

Ali, who is employed, previously served seven years in federal prison for bank robbery, the detective said. He appears to have acted alone, police said.

Ali was scheduled to be arraigned over the weekend and will likely be ineligible for bail. He was arrested on an unrelated charge Friday afternoon and was later charged with two counts of murder, robbery, a firearms charge and other charges after giving a statement.

Ali did not have an attorney when he gave his statement, the detective said, and it was not immediately clear whether one had been appointed Saturday.

"If he is the suspect that killed my husband, he hurt his own family, too," Donna Alullo, the widow of slain guard Joseph Alullo, said after he was taken in for questioning. "We hope that it is the suspect ... so that he is off the street and doesn't do it to anyone else."

Police recovered the gun, a 9mm semiautomatic, near a Philadelphia community college after Ali told them where he had tossed it, the detective said.

Authorities spent Friday fielding tips about the suspect and his getaway car, a new Acura TL Type-S. Police towed a car matching that description from the apartment complex where they found Ali on Friday afternoon. Police believe he was preparing to leave the area.

The robber approached the armored car from behind Thursday morning outside a bank in northeast Philadelphia. He shot one guard in the chest, then went around the vehicle and shot the second guard as he tried to unholster his gun, police have said. He shot toward a third guard inside the armored car, picked up a bag of deposits and fled.

Investigators believe he may have grabbed deposits — likely a mix of checks and cash — but the detective said Saturday that authorities don't believe he got away with much.

The victims, Alullo, 54, and William Widmaier, 65, were friends from their days working together on the police force. Widmaier was shot once in the chest, and Alullo was shot three times in the chest and abdomen.

Neither victim was wearing a bulletproof vest. Loomis, the armored-car company, does not require guards to wear the vests, but officials said they are considering revising their policy.

The third guard was grazed by shattered glass as the robber shot at the window. That guard was treated at a hospital for lacerations and released.

So it wasn't those "evil guns" after all.......

BTW, Neither the New York Times nor CNN reported that he was a repeat offender. Hmmmmm.......

[The Rabbi]

Just to clarify, repeat offender means he was already barred from owning a gun. He was already in violation of the law. What other law would he have obeyed? None. Criminals dont obey laws. Banning guns would not have deterred him. Duh.