Credit union robbed Friday afternoon

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Suggested Head: Credit union robbed Friday afternoon

By BOB BLAKE

 bblake@limanews.com
419-993-2077

LIMA - Three masked men robbed an area credit union during a busy afternoon rush Friday. Armed with handguns, the men fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.

The robbers struck around 4 p.m. at the Superior Federal Credit Union, 1205 E. Kibby St., Lt. Jim Baker, of the Lima Police Department, said. No one inside the credit union at the time of the robbery was hurt, he said.

"They did a fantastic job," Baker said of credit union employees. "They stayed calm; they acted as quickly as they could to get the robbers outside their bank which is what they want. They just did super."

Kurt Neeper, marketing director at Superior, said the location is the busiest branch. The robbery occurred at the busiest time on the busiest day of the week, he said.

"Personally, it's actually kind of odd that you would come into this branch, which is such a high traffic branch, on a Friday afternoon, which is our busiest time. I can't really speculate why they would do that," Neeper said. "You would think someone would want the path of least resistance. Yet, they came in on the busiest time on our busiest day at our busiest branch."

Neeper said there has not been a traditional robbery at a Superior location in the three years he's been on the job. It's a scenario that company employees train for, he said.

"We practice these things all the time," Neeper said. "That still doesn't change the fact it's different in reality than it is in practice. Our staff performed admirably."

No additional information was available late Friday from the police department. Detectives are working with FBI agents on the case, Baker said.

It is the third bank robbery in the region in as many months.

Authorities are still searching for the culprits in a Jan. 27 robbery of the Chase bank branch in Cridersville and a March 9 robbery of the Chase bank location on North West Street in Lima on March 9.