Roland Johnson is a regular customer of the Chase bank at East Golf Links and South Harrison roads. He's lived in the neighborhood since the late 1970s and knows many of the tellers by name.
Johnson's routine visit to the bank Monday afternoon turned out to be anything but.
He became a player in a drama that included a hostage standoff and ended in a suicide.
Johnson, an investigator with the Pima County Attorney's Office, was walking toward the front door when he spotted a bank employee through the windows standing next to a man in a polo shirt and dark pants.
"He was pointing a big, big, big, big chrome-plated gun at me," Johnson said.
In that instant, Johnson realized the man was robbing the bank and had probably noticed the gun and badge at his side.
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Johnson quickly retreated and made two calls from his car.
The first was to 911. The second was to the Tucson Police Department's East Division, just a block or so away.
He then got out of his car and watched the front doors from behind some trees. Officers had the bank surrounded within a minute, he said.
Although his quick actions prevented the robber from getting away, Johnson didn't want to hear any accolades.
"Thirty-one and a half years of training just kicked in," Johnson said. "I just did everything I was trained to do."
Johnson's been with the County Attorney's Office only six months.
He took the job after retiring from the Tucson Police Department as a sergeant.
Leon Traig Williams, 22, walked into the bank at 9510 E. Golf Links shortly before 12:30 p.m. with a bag and a gun, said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a Tucson police spokesman.
He got an undisclosed amount of money from one of the tellers and was on his way out when he spotted Johnson.
Williams dropped the bag of money and took about a dozen people in the bank hostage.
SWAT officers along with the bomb unit, at least one police dog, helicopters and officers from other patrol areas converged on the area.
When police called the bank and spoke with Williams he made several demands, but none of them were met, Robinson said. One of his demands was that the bag of money he dropped be delivered by police to another location. Police later persuaded him to release a hostage so she could deliver the bag to officers outside.
Three hostages were released before police say Williams killed himself about 2 p.m.
Until they were forced to evacuate, Mandy Caldwell and Tamison Rife watched the event unfold from outside Taylor Tack and Feed, a new store they are preparing to open this week.
They saw at least 10 terrified women run away from the bank over a period of an hour, though it was unclear Monday afternoon if they were hostages or people being removed from the area.
Some of the women ran for the nearest police car; others ran to the officers hunkered down outside a nearby furniture store, they said.
There were snipers on the roof of the furniture store, and one officer asked her if he could access her roof, although he never did, Caldwell said.
"This has always been a nice neighborhood. I've lived here my whole life," Caldwell said. "You always hear about stuff happening on the other side of town, but it's slowly creeping this way and it's scary."
When officers went inside the bank, they found the gunman's body and some remaining hostages.
"This type of robbery is a rarity," Robinson said. "Because of how it occurred, I don't think he was intending on taking any hostages though."
No physical injuries were reported, although the hostages were likely emotionally traumatized, Robinson said.
Beverly Boatwright works at a Walgreens nearby and was shaken after police quickly ushered her and a co-worker across the parking lot to safety.
She was working when officers came into the store and told everyone to get out, Boatwright said.
As employees were working to gather everyone together she said the officers returned and said, "Get out now!"
Because she could not get to her vehicle, Boatwright and another woman were escorted across the parking lot. Police officers ran behind them, forming a human shield.
"They told us to run, to get behind the Dumpster," Boatwright said. "I've been through a lot but this is scary."
Surrounding businesses were evacuated and an air-conditioned Sun Tran bus was brought in as shelter for those who had no way of leaving the area during the ordeal, Robinson said.
A.J. Herr heard about the unfolding drama after getting out of school and came to watch with a friend.
"It's just crazy," Herr said. "It kind of scares me someone would try to rob a bank so close to where I live. I'm still kind of in shock. This is something you see in the movies, not here."
Even Johnson, with more than 30 years in law enforcement, ranked it within his Top 10 all-time "high-pressure" moments.
