MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said they have arrested a man who attempted to rob a Seacoast Bank in Hobe Sound Tuesday morning.
The robbery occurred at around 9:30 a.m. at the bank located near the intersection of U.S.-1 and Bridge Road.
Sheriff John Budensiek tells WPTV how deputies were able to capture the suspect
Deputies said Reginald Bernard Daniels, 49, brandished a large knife and demanded money before running away on foot into a wooded area behind the Winn-Dixie shopping plaza.
Diane Stephens lives a mile away and said she passed the neighborhood on her run today.
“Pretty shocked that not only a bank robbery but with a knife that’s really not––not usual anymore,” said Stephens.
She said she was caught off guard.
“It’s just a little unnerving to think that that’s going on around here,” Stephens said.
According to deputies, both ground and air units searched for Daniels.
During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Sheriff John Budensiek said they worked with witnesses to locate Daniels at his home and questioned him.
"He immediately brandished a knife and barricaded himself in this grooming house back here," Budensiek said in a video posted to Martin County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. "Our deputies and our negotiators tried to talk to him for quite some time. He stated that he wanted us to kill him—"suicide by cop." Of course we set a perimeter and did not allow him to make that happen."
Budensiek said after a long time of negotiating, the SWAT Team was called in, they deployed tear gas and Daniels came out of the home and was taken into custody.
Budensiek said no one at the bank was injured.
Man in shock after learning his next-door neighbor was responsible for attempted armed robbery
“He was frightened off, before he received any money from the bank,” he said. “Thankfully no one was hurt, obviously the bank employees were very shook up in this case.”
A man who lives nextdoor to Daniels said he is shocked by incident.
“There was a lot of police here, so I’ve never seen something like this in my life,” Luis Gonzalez
said. "Hard working man. He doesn't bother anybody, he doesn't talk to anybody, so it's a real shock."
Daniels faces attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges.
