A suit-and-tie-wearing man attempted to rob the Dedham Square Citizens Bank with a pellet gun Tuesday, police say, but was foiled by a bank manager who alerted a Norwood colleague via text message.
That message led to a call to police who caught the suspect as he left the bank.
Delroy George Henry, 34, of 8 Atherstone St., Dorchester, was arrested at about 8:50 a.m. Police expect to charge him with attempting to commit a crime, said Lt. Robert Nedder.
Police took a call at about 8:40 a.m. from a Citizens Bank branch in Norwood, which reported a possible robbery occurring in Dedham at the bank at 5 Bryant St., Nedder said.
Police said Henry looked like a well-dressed bank customer. He was wearing a dark suit, blue shirt and yellow tie and was facing an ATM, as if he were going to use it, as employees were preparing to open the bank at 9.
Henry followed a bank employee inside. As she tried to shut the door, Henry got it open and told employees he was robbing the bank and that he had a gun, police said.
Henry made the four employees sit in the bank lobby, and asked if the vault was open, Nedder said. Before the vault could be unlocked, a manager used a cell phone to send a text message to a Citizens manager in Norwood.
Sgt. Michael Feeley and Officer Francis McMillan, who were working a paid detail nearby at Eastern Avenue and Providence Highway, arrived at the bank by 8:41 a.m., Nedder said.
The police station is just two blocks away.
As Henry waited for the vault to be opened, he saw police outside, threw away what were later determined to be his handgun and clear gloves, and tried to leave the bank "as if he was in there conducting normal business," Nedder said.
Feeley and McMillan ordered Henry to lie down on the street, but he ignored them and kept walking, Nedder recounted. Henry was quickly handcuffed and arrested close to the bank, Nedder added.
No bank employees appear to have been injured, Nedder said.
At the bank, police found clear plastic-type gloves and a pellet gun in the trash, Nedder said. The pellet gun looks like a real handgun but uses a C02 cartridge instead of gunpowder to shoot projectiles, and it can still hurt people, Nedder said.
After Henry was taken to the police station, he injured himself and was taken to a local hospital, Nedder said. Nedder said he expected to Henry would spend the night at the police station and be arraigned today in Dedham District Court.
Henry had keys on him for a black 2004 BMW X5, which was in the parking lot of Visions Design Center at 525 Providence Highway, Nedder said.
The same bank building Henry is accused of trying to rob appears in a holdup scene in the 1973 Robert Mitchum movie "The Friends of Eddie Coyle," according to a popular Dedham blog. It was South Shore National Bank at that time.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
