On July 20, OFCC reported that a "gun-free" Park National Bank branch on the 18th floor of a Dayton high-rise had been robbed. An alert OFCC supporter who works in the building has submitted the following report and commentary, because it has happened again!

November 19, 2004
WHIOTV.com (Ch. 7 Dayton)

A man is behind bars Friday after Dayton police were called to a bank heist. The robbery happened at Park National Bank on the 18th floor of the Miami Valley Tower located at 40 West Fourth Street.

Authorities said the man entered the bank, demanded money and then fled out of the bank toward the elevators. Bank tellers alerted security in the lobby, who then turned the elevators off, but the suspect managed to escape, authorities said.

Investigators said security guards chased the man behind the building, where he was taken into custody with the assistance of a Dayton police officer.

Authorities said the same bank was robbed several months ago and believe this may be the same man who robbed it then. Bank tellers also told police that the suspect was the same man who robbed the bank earlier.

Click on the "Read More..." link below to read commentary from an employee who works in this building.

December 3, 2004
Associated Press

Woman Will Not Be Charged For Shooting Husband
Husband Had Cut Phone Line, Parked Far Away

WADESBORO, N.C. -- A woman won't face charges after she shot and killed her
husband, who had cut her telephone line and used a shovel to break open her
door following weeks of domestic violence.

Joy Burgess, 26, shot Brian Lee Gathings, 29, with a handgun about 5:30 a.m.
Wednesday. Seconds earlier, he used a short-handle shovel to pry open her back
door, Anson County Sheriff Tommy W. Allen Jr. said Thursday.

The couple's 6-year-old daughter was asleep in the house at the time.

Gathings was pronounced dead at the scene with a single bullet wound to the
chest. Gathings had cut Burgess' telephone line outside the house and parked
his pickup truck about a mile away, Allen said.

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Burgess had taken out a domestic violence protective order against Gathings
after a series of abusive acts, including a break-in last month. The couple was
due in court Thursday for a hearing.

Records show Gathings had been jailed five times since July 22, including
charges of assault by pointing a gun, assault on a female, domestic criminal
trespass, and telephone harassment.

Each time Gathings was jailed, his bond was increased. But after a Nov. 22
domestic trespass charge, Gathings was denied bond until his required 48-hour
hearing where District Court Judge Joe Williams set bond at $15,000. Gathings
parents bailed him out of jail.

"The restraining order was not worth the paper it was wrote on," said Angela
Burgess, Joy's mother.

"The last time he broke in, my husband nailed the windows down, which I didn't
like in case of a fire. And he still broke in. I'm sorry that it came to this,
but she did everything she could."

Related Stories:
Mother: restraining order, cameras & pepper spray didn't save my daughter

Restraining nothing

Multiple restraining orders fail to restrain; Hamilton County woman dies

Right to self-defense coming too late for some domestic violence victims

Akron: Yet another attack after ''restraining'' order fails to restrain

By Jim Kouri, Certified Protection Professional

Dec 1, 2004
MichNews.com

Ninety-five percent of US police commanders and sheriffs believe most criminals obtain their firearms from illegal sources, according to a survey released by the National Association of Chiefs of Police. Coincidentally, data released by the US Department of Justice appears to confirm this claim by our nation's police executives. The DOJ study refutes the conventional wisdom that guns used in criminal acts are purchased at retail stores or gun shows.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.