Baldwin County Man Sentenced to 137 Months for Attempted Bank Robbery Where a Firearm was Discharged

The United States Attorney Kenyen Brown announces that Justin Emon Waller, a 26-year-old Gulf Shores, Alabama resident, was sentenced today to 137 months’ incarceration, followed by five years of supervised release, for the attempted bank robbery of the Hancock Bank located at 1801 Gulf Shores Parkway in Gulf Shores, Alabama, and for the discharge of a firearm during and in relation to and in furtherance of the attempted robbery.

On May 25, 2012, as employees (two bank tellers) arrived to open the Hancock Bank, Waller ran out of the bushes dressed in all black, with a black rag covering his face and a loaded gun in hand. He confronted the tellers, gun in hand, intending to rob the bank. Waller struggled with the tellers in an attempt to gain access to the bank and was not successful, so he grabbed the purse of one teller, fired a shot from his handgun, and fled. The tellers suffered minor injuries from the skirmish.

Waller was apprehended about seven minutes later hiding in the wooded area behind the bank. When he was caught, officers recovered from him several pairs of flex handcuffs, ammunition, a gun holster, camouflage paint, black clothing, black rag, dark bandana, and black gloves. Waller told officers that the gun was “by the bridge,” but officers were unable to find it at that time. After Miranda warnings, Waller said, “I did it for my family.” Waller confessed to attempting to rob the bank and to knowing the home address of the bank manager and having the license plate numbers of other employees of the bank. A short time later, Waller took officers to the location where he threw the firearm away, and it was recovered.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the Gulf Shores Police department investigated the case and presented it to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The prosecutor assigned to the case is Assistant United States Attorney, Gina S. Vann.