Bank Manager Rescued After Robbers Set Fire

Sheriff’s deputies rescued the manager of a Bellflower bank early Monday after three armed robbers locked him in a basement office and set fire to the bank’s automated teller machine, authorities said.

Two deputies and the bank manager, Robert Miner, were treated for minor smoke inhalation. The robbers, who made off with an undisclosed amount of cash, remained at large, authorities said.

Miner, who telephoned for help just before the fire apparently disconnected the bank’s phone lines, told deputies the robbers put a gun to his head as he arrived around 7:45 a.m. Once inside, they forced him into the basement, took money from the back of a teller machine and set it afire.

The robbers had fled by the time sheriff’s patrols arrived about 8 a.m. Deputies found Miner waving frantically from a side window, which they smashed to pull him to safety.

Two weeks ago, robbers hit the same bank, in the 15900 block of Bellflower Boulevard. That time they escaped with $114,000, a sheriff’s spokesman said.