Armed Citizen: 'You Are Not Robbing This Bank!'

Photo of Tim Graham.

In the latest in a long series of Armed Citizen stories that the media works strenuously to ignore, a man named Nabil Fawzi is the toast of the Detroit area. Courtesy of Cam Edwards once again, see the Detroit News report:

A longtime customer brazenly stood up to a suspected would-be bank robber at a Comerica bank on Monday and detained the man until police showed up.

At about 9 a.m., police said a 54-year-old Washtenaw County man walked into a Comerica branch in the 45400 block of Michigan Avenue and handed the teller a handwritten note demanding money.

It also indicated he was strapped with a bomb, police said in a release.

When the suspect demanded "bands of 50s and 100s," police said, the clerk hit the bank's silent alarm and began placing money in a bag.

A teller at an adjacent counter noticed the incident and alerted the longtime customer.

Police said the customer then pulled out a gun, pointed it at the suspect and told him, "You are not robbing this bank."

"But I have a bomb," the suspect said, according to police.

The customer replied: "I don't care. You are not robbing this bank!"

The customer, who has not been named, then led the suspect to a chair, sat him down and held him at gunpoint until police came.

The Detroit Free Press offered more:

The celebration honoring Nabil Fawzi on Friday at the Sunoco gas station in Ypsilanti continued long after the free hot dogs ran out and the discounted gas was hiked back to $3.89 a gallon.

It seemed like everyone who stopped at the station at Ecorse Road and Redwood Avenue during the late afternoon wanted to shake his hand, hug him or tell him what a good job he did.

On Monday, Fawzi, 39, of Dearborn, who is known to his customers as Bill, thwarted a robbery at a Comerica Bank branch on Michigan Avenue in Canton.

"It's been a long four days, five days," Fawzi said. "It's been like this all day."

Media outlets from around the country have sought interviews since his identity was released Tuesday. He's already done 14 radio interviews, he said.

The local TV stations, the networks, cable news outlets and various newspapers all want to know about the bank customer who pulled out a 9mm handgun and faced down a man who claimed to have a bomb...

Fawzi, a Lebanese immigrant who served in the army during that country's civil war, runs Mr. Bucks, a check-cashing service based at the gas station. On Friday, he fielded questions and compliments from his customers.

"I heard about that when I was working," said Nicole Fisher of Ypsilanti. "That's awesome."

One man gave Fawzi a thumbs up. "Good work at the bank," he said.

Cam interviewed Fawzi on Friday night, and you can find it at NRANews.com. We'll see if any national news outlets ever notice.

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center


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Good thing!

Good thing the bank robber didn't really have a bomb.  They would all be dead; bank robber, heroic citizen, all the tellers, employees and customers alike.  Then, in the aftermath, the liberal media would have a field day with the incident.  Good thing, indeed!

Anderson

This man was in the Lebanese Army before he immigrated to the United States.  He's seen people who were strapped with bombs before.  I saw him in an interview on TV.  He said that he waited until the man reached forward with both hands to recover the money from the teller.  He then knew that the triggering device, if there were one, was clear.  That's when he pulled his weapon and subdued the robber.

Postatem obscuri lateris nescitis

Good thing!

Good thing that giant bolts of lightening didn't rain down from the sky, opening up huge cracks in the Earth and swallowing the back entirely! They would all be dead; bank robber, heroic citizen, all the tellers, employees and customers alike. Good thing indeed!

We can play theses "what if" scenarios all day, but the fact remains that this man is a hero and deserves better than "what if," wouldn't you agree?

A true American Hero

The man is from Lebanon, a self-starting businessman not asking for a handout, probably a muslim, maybe not...but who cares.

This is the real America, Ladies and Gentlemen. Definatly not your Kool-Aid drinking Obama supporter.

You want to fight crime? Arm the citizen and justice and security are the results. Detroit is far more dangerous than Iraq.

We salute Nabil Fawzi!

Drill ANWAR

You got that right

The guy is definately a hero.

It's a great story, and I'm glad he was there, but...

I keep waiting to hear about this guy getting in trouble for bringing his gun into the bank, which is obviously considered a firearms no-no in most states.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

Gun was prolly legal

This is speculation but, he works for a check cashing outfit and probably transports large sums of money to and from the bank. You can get a concealed carry permit under those circumstances. The bank was most likely aware that he was able to carry.

I cary in banks, it is

I cary in banks, it is perfectly legal here.  One bank has a sign that says they ban guns.  I ignor it, if they want, they will have to ask me to leave and then I can only be charged with trespassing if I refuse.  They will never do that, though, they want my money.

 "Always remember that you are unique.  Just like everybody else." --despair.com

It wasn't immediately

It wasn't immediately apparent, but the story obviously did not happen in that crime-ridden, vermin festering city of Detroit, with its gun ban and its criminal mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick.  (It was the city of Canton)

If it had, the caption would have read, "Detroit Man Arrested for Threatening Alleged Bank Robber with Illegal Gun." 

sean robins
blog.seanrobins.com

----

How about:

"Obviously Deranged & Violence-Prone Detroit Man Arrested for Terrorizing Alleged Bank Robber with Illegal Gun"

Bronson would be proud.

Bronson would be proud.

BRAVO

I think I just had a thrill run up my leg

 

"I have always been proud of my country"- Cindy McCain

Every lawful, able adult should have a concealed carry

if they desire.  I read a statement on NB a few weeks ago that said "I carry a gun because I cannot carry a policeman."  Just as this man was able to stop a bank robbery, we have to realize that the police cannot be everywhere.

I have carred a gun for years and never have had reason to draw it.  I hope that day never comes.  But if some Arab starts yelling Allah Ackhbar and starts shooting up the mall or if some pit bull is eating a child...brother, they are going down.

A honest, sentient man can be armed with a nuclear bomb and nobody will be harmed.  Every able, competent adult should consider a concealed carry licesnse.

Jeff Lebowski

www.angrywhitedude.c...

There's An Old Saying...

...among gun owners - "An armed society is a polite society."

I had a CCW before I moved to the god-forsaken People's Republik of Kalifornia, and almost daily I miss having my trusty .45ACP tucked in the belt holster at the small of my back. Getting a CCW where I live now is virtually impossible. I live in a "good" area, but we are surrounded by illegals, gang bangers, home invaders, and all sorts of other undesirables and the crime that used to be confined to the cities has flowed out to the suburbs and beyond. Of course being 50 miles from Mexico doesn't help.


"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

www.conservativeboot...

Thrill/all American

Easy Matthews!

Notice the crickets chirping on the National MSM

They will absolutely refuse to carry any story where an armed citizen is a hero, instead of the perpetrator or the victim. This might tend to support the idea that firearms are tools and what is important is what you choose to do with the tool, not the tool itself.

 

The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.