The Community First Credit Union branch in Jacksonville, Fla., will reopen Monday, just three days after it was the scene of a tense, two-hour hostage standoff with a gunman who threatened the lives of seven employees and six members.
New details about the attempted robbery and what happened inside the branch were released Friday.
At 9:06 Thursday morning, a 23-year-old Tampa man, Nicholas Daquan Humphrey, walked into the Edgewood Avenue Community First branch with a handgun.
When the robbery began, there were actually eight employees in the branch, but the branch manager slipped out and immediately called 911, according to Maria Coppola, a media liaison for the credit union. Of the remaining seven employees still in the branch, one employee managed to hide unbeknown to the gun-wielding Humphrey, who shot a bullet into the lobby ceiling while he demanded money.
He ordered the six employees and six members into a back room.
The manager’s emergency call enabled police to arrive at the scene within five minutes and quickly surround the branch.
After police contacted Humphrey (pictured at left), he demanded that his family members come to the scene and he began threatening the lives of members and employees.
“He did, through negotiations, release a couple of the hostages, but he also continued to threaten people inside the bank,” Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said. “He threatened to kill the hostages multiple times. We had verifiable information that he was actually putting the gun to the back of the hostages’ heads at a couple of points.”
Because those violent threats escalated, making the hostage situation increasingly stressed, tense and dangerous, Williams said the SWAT command staff determined that at the next opportunity they would storm the branch to rescue the hostages.
That opportunity came when the person hiding fled the branch, which distracted Humphrey. At that point, SWAT team members stormed the branch and placed themselves between the hostages and Humphrey.
The suspect was taken into custody and charged with armed robbery and 13 counts of kidnapping.
The SWAT team operation took out the front glass entrance and there was various strewn debris, Coppola said. A dog that had walked into the branch with Humphrey urinated in an area behind the teller line. The dog was handed over to animal control officials.
“It was a very tough day for everyone on the scene and for our entire credit union family,” Community First President/CEO John Hirabayashi (pictured at left) said. “All our employees, members and their loved ones have been reunited and we extend our support and appreciation to them while they recover. We will extend crisis counseling and have activated our employee assistance program to further help our branch employees in their emotional healing.”
The credit union’s HR department worked with employees who were held hostage to determine who wanted to return to work on Monday, who might need a new branch assignment or if any of the employees needed additional time off for counseling, Coppola said.
When the branch reopens on Monday, executive team members and officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office will be there to make sure all goes smoothly.
Coppola said Community First is most concerned that employees feel safe and comfortable in returning to work at the branch.
“I am personally grateful for the amazing professionalism and strength of our branch team who had to endure a situation we’ve not seen in many years,” Hirabayashi said. “An active shooter is something we all know can happen and we hope never does, but these employees used their training to save lives. We are also appreciative of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office’s quick response and intervention that prevented physical injuries. This is the best possible outcome.”
He added, “I’m proud of our Community First Credit Union family today more than ever. And I’m thankful beyond words that this situation ended peacefully with the suspect in custody. We graciously ask for the community’s understanding and respect of our employees’ privacy while they heal.”
