The Blotter: Interview with a bank robber

A man accused of robbing several Gwinnett County banks isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. After making his latest getaway from a bank robbery in Lawrenceville, the alleged bandit indulged in an on-air interview with a CBS46 news team, during which he unintentionally outed himself.

CBS46 was making a news package about a busy Lawrenceville intersection and unknowingly asked a bank robbery suspect if he would like to comment. Unwittingly, he agreed.

“Gwinnett County doesn’t really have it’s own transportation,” he told the reporter. “So MARTA coming out here would really help out a lot.”

Police officials have been looking for the suspect for weeks, and, curiously enough, found him where they least expected, on TV. Before cameras started rolling, he insisted on taking off his du-rag and hat, which he can be seen wearing on bank security cameras in the act.

Soon after the interview he walked into a nearby Fidelity Bank, possibility to case the joint. Police say he has a skit in which he spends an extended amount of time in the banks.

The suspect was arrested later that night and taken to the Lawrenceville Police Department.

CBS46 News

Disorderly yard work

A west Atlanta resident and a lawn care laborer wound up in jail after a dispute over yard trimmings turned violent.

According to an Atlanta Police Department incident report, Mr. Hubbert, who works for a landscaping company, was mowing a lawn in a west Atlanta community when his client’s neighbor, Mr. Williams, accosted him about some grass clippings that drifted onto his property.

When the quarrel grew tense, Williams said, Hubbert grabbed a shovel from his work truck, surely in an attempt to intimidate the homeowner. The two men berated each other from opposite sides of the property line, and, Williams said, Hubbert shoved him with his empty hand. Hubbert neglected to cite this detail in his account to police and claimed Williams had thrown a punch at him (and whiffed).

Williams then became irate, and their loud, profane debate drew the attention of his wife and daughter. While his wife attempted to break up the argument, Williams’ daughter took it upon herself to brandish two butcher knives from their home. Mrs. Williams then armed herself with a rake she stole from Hubbert’s truck.

Meanwhile, Mr. Williams had walked off towards his own vehicle, from which he allegedly drew a handgun. Hubbert said he didn’t notice the firearm until he heard the crack of a gunshot. He immediately fled to the backyard, where a neighbor noticed him and called the police to report the shooting.

During police questioning, both men tweaked their stories, trying to absolve themselves of guilt. “Both parties failed to reveal certain details of the dispute,” the report reads. “When asked if he shot a gun, Mr. Williams stated that he did not shoot a gun at Roderick Hubbert.”

Police were unable to locate Mr. Williams’ gun, but still booked both men with disorderly conduct charges and sent them to jail.

Mr. Clean

Atlanta police jailed a man suspected of stealing and stockpiling an arsenal of aerosol sprays.

An officer was dispatched to a Downtown Dollar General to investigate an alleged theft.. The suspect was believed to have stolen “18 various cleaning products and sprays,” according to the incident report.

When the officer arrived on scene, he saw the suspected shoplifter attempting to stash his haul behind a tree and flee the scene. When police confronted the man, they discovered a can of chili in his front pocket, a can of sausages in his butt pocket, and more canned chili in his hand.

While under police custody the suspect complained of pain and breathing issues, so Grady arrived on scene to evaluate his condition. The medics said he was breathing normally and had no other medical issues they could identify at the time. But the cleaning supply bandit insisted there was something inherently wrong with him, so he was transported to Grady Hospital’s detention center for a second opinion.

The items hidden behind the tree were recovered by the officers and placed into property as evidence. The store manager confirmed that all of the items recovered were stolen from his store and that he’d hand over the security footage to prove it later.