Melbourne, Florida

From Orlando’s Local6.com of April 21, 2006

Good Samaritan Helps Capture Bank Robbery Suspect

An armed good Samaritan was credited with helping police in Melbourne, Fla., capture a 37-year-old bank robbery suspect during a hold-up Friday afternoon, according to Local 6 News partner Florida Today.

The bank robbery happened just before noon at The Bank on the 300 block of U.S. 1.

"The suspect implied he had a firearm, then fled the bank," said Cmdr. Jim Gibbens of the Melbourne Police Department. It was not immediately known if the man made off with any cash, officials said.

"The good Samaritan was in the drive-through and saw the guy fleeing," Gibbens said. "He followed him and tried to block him with his pickup truck. At some point, he pointed a gun."

The 63-year-old civilian, later questioned by police, was lawfully keeping the weapon in his truck and was not charged, police said.

By the time the robbery was reported to police, tracking dogs and the Brevard County Sheriff's helicopter were also on the trail, Florida Today reported.

"When we found (the suspect), he was hiding in a shed about a quarter of a mile away on Nieman Drive," Gibbens said.

The suspect, identified as Robert Edward Rettig of Deltona, was charged with robbery and taken to the Melbourne Police Department's criminal investigations office on Babcock.

Rettig will be taken to the Brevard County Jail in Sharpes, officials said.