MIDWAY — Four Savannah residents have been charged in connection with an alleged attempted armed robbery in Midway on Wednesday.
The announcement came from Atlanta FBP Special Agent in Charge Mark F. Giuliano, in conjunction with Liberty County Sheriff Steve Sikes.
An FBI news release said the four men taken into custody by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office and charged federally by the FBI with attempted bank robbery are Durrell Jones, 32, Randy Jones, 31, who is also listed as a Midway resident, Kendell Stevens, 24, and Demetrious Hall, 30.
The FBI alleges that on Wednesday, around 8:30 a.m., two men armed with handguns attempted to enter the rear door of the Interstate Federal Credit Union on Highway 84.
A bank employee quickly locked the rear doors while instructing other employees to call police. Both of the would-be robbers ran back into adjacent woods.
Responding Liberty County Sheriff’s Office K-9 units were able to track the individuals to the woods.
Additional investigation determined that a black Chevrolet sports utility vehicle picked up three men running out of the woods and two of them matched descriptions and bank surveillance photos of the robbers.
A Liberty County Sheriff’s detective noticed a black Chevrolet Captiva SUV parked off Cay Creek Road, about a mile from of the credit union. As the detective approached the vehicle, it pulled away.
After a brief pursuit, the vehicle pulled into the El Cheapo gas station at I-95.
The suspects were held at the Liberty County Regional Jail and were to make initial appearances in front of a U.S. magistrate Friday.
There was speculation that a bomb scare Wednesday at Midway Middle School, which is a couple miles from the credit union, may have been a diversion for the robbery.
The hoax bomb was in a car that Sheriff Sikes said was stolen from Savannah the day before, and the bomb scare was called in about a half hour before the alleged robbery attempt.
But officials have not formally said the two crimes are connected.