Peoples Bank in Valley Grande target

By Tammy Leytham

The Selma Times-Journal

VALLEY GRANDE – FBI and local law enforcement officials are searching for suspects in the Thursday morning robbery of the Peoples Bank & Trust branch.

“We received a call about 10:19 a.m. that the robbery alarm had gone off at this bank,” said Dallas County Sheriff Harris Huffman. “The first car at the scene arrived in about eight minutes, and that was me.”

The employees “were shaken up, but nobody was hurt,” Huffman said.

Later in the morning, an FBI agent

interviewed bank employees.

The bandits made off with an undetermined amount of cash, authorities said.

“We still have agents in the area and the investigation is ongoing,” said Michael Gavin, FBI supervising agent, who works out of the Montgomery office.

Gavin said three black males wearing hooded sweat shirts “took control of the bank.”

“There was a report of at least one long gun and one pistol,” Gavin said. “We’re pursuing positive leads at this time.”

Bank officials arrived at the scene shortly after law enforcement officials did, Huffman said.

The bank is a branch of the Peoples Bank & Trust Company headquartered in Selma.

Gavin said the FBI had obtained “very good surveillance video.”

Times-Journal reporter Victor Inge contributed to this report.