A bank customer stopped a robbery with a kind gesture. Michael Armus Sr., 69, was at Bank of the West in Woodland, California, when he noticed a man passing a note to a teller, claiming he had explosives and demanding money. Armus thought the man looked agitated but also depressed. That’s when he decided to approach the man later identified by police as 43-year-old Eduardo Placensia.
Armus wasn’t sure but he thought he recognized the suspect as a former neighbor from 20 years ago.
“So, I just approached him, and I asked him, I said, ‘What’s wrong?… You don’t have a job?'” Armus told ABC News. “He said, ‘There’s nothing in this town for me. Nothing in this town for me. I just want to go to prison’.”
Armus then suggested to the man that they go outside.
“So, I took him outside, and I give the man a hug right here at the doors,” said Armus. “He started crying.”
Shortly after, Woodland police arrived and arrested Placensia for attempted robbery. Placensia turned out to be unarmed, according to authorities. Woodland Police Department said Armus used the “right words at the right time.”
For Armus, he believes he was meant to be at the bank and told KCRA 3 that “love overcomes all things.”
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