Tessa Wilber, a special education teacher in Fulton County, was waiting for a customer service representative at the crowded Brookhaven branch of the Wells Fargo on Tuesday morning when she saw the bank employee’s face fill with terror.
In that same moment, three masked men rushed in the front door of the bank in the 3000 block of Peachtree Road around 10:15 a.m., shouting and waving pistols. They forced customers to the ground and vaulted a teller.
“I hit the dirt, I went underneath the desk,” said Wilber, 53.
A bank employee on the floor next to her chanced a peek at one of the assailants and the masked man pointed a gun at his head saying, “Don’t look at me or I’ll shoot you.” Wilber said the room went silent except for the shouts of the men to “open the door (to the vault)” and the frantic response from a female bank employee saying, “I don’t know how.”
“I put my fingers in my ears because I didn’t want to hear someone die,” Wilber said.
The men were wearing all black clothing, the FBI said. Two were said to be wearing latex gloves. One also had a black backpack, and one also had a white cloth face mask and white tennis shoes. A third was wearing a brown Panama-style brim hat and a chain necklace.
They left within minutes, carrying an undisclosed amount of cash. They escaped in a light-colored sedan.
Wells Fargo is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrests and convictions of those responsible. The FBI and Brookhaven police request anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477.
— Staff writer Taylor West contributed to this report.
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