CLARKSON, Ky. (AP) — A man who walked into a rural bank branch carrying a rifle and wearing a stocking over his head was shot to death Thursday by the bank’s manager, who then went out and shot out the tires on the man’s car, authorities said.
Kentucky State Police said the man held open the bank’s front door and pointed his high-powered 30.06 rifle at the manager, who quickly drew a .45-caliber handgun from under a counter and shot him once in the chest.
The man, identified as Robert A. Hazelwood of nearby Leitchfield, staggered outside and collapsed near his car, Trooper Eddie Lair said.
The bank manager, Clyde Bratcher, followed him outside and fired three more shots to puncture the tires of Hazelwood’s Ford Tempo parked in the bank lot, Lair said.
Hazelwood, 44, apparently had no previous criminal history, said officials at the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office. State police said Hazelwood was a customer at the downtown branch of the same bank, the Bank of Clarkson.
The branch where the shooting occurred is about one mile southwest of town in a small shopping center.
Hazelwood’s wife told authorities he had suffered a stroke in the past year and was not working. She said he was acting normally Thursday morning, but did not tell her where he was going when he left home.
Kentucky’s attorney general’s office was researching whether Bratcher was allowed to keep the handgun inside the bank.
Clarkson, a town of about 650 people, is 60 miles southwest of Louisville in west-central Kentucky.