B U F F A L O N E W S
Erie County sheriff’s investigators Monday evening arrested a would-be bank robber who tried to hold up an HSBC Bank branch on Grand Island Boulevard earlier in the day, officials announced Tuesday.
At 11:40 a.m., Lorraine Johnson, 42, walked into the bank and handed a teller a note demanding money and threatening to shoot her if she did not comply, investigators said. The woman reached into her purse several times as if she were going for a gun, they added.
But when the teller refused to hand over any money, Johnson fled on foot, deputies said.
The bank provided investigators photographs of the suspect. Deputies recognized her as someone “they had dealt with several times in the past,” according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Office.
Johnson was located by Monday evening and was charged with second-degree attempted robbery. She was being held in the Erie County Holding Center, pending arraignment in Grand Island Town Court.