MIAMI – Miami police took a suspect into custody on Friday after an incident at the Bank of America Financial Center.
Sky 10 captured video from overhead of Miami police putting a handcuffed man in the back of a patrol car around 12:50 p.m. on Friday.
A chaotic scene played out at the bank along the 100 block of West Flagler Street where there were varied reports about what was happening inside.
According to police, several calls came in about an assault at the bank in progress, then it became a possible robbery in progress around 12:30 p.m.
Police said when they arrived, a man was holding an elderly woman by the neck with a bag in his hand.
Officers at the scene were able to talk to the man until he could be taken into custody without anyone being seriously injured.
“One of our officers comes inside and sees that there is a Black male that has a female held by the neck and that he had a bag with him. We didn’t see a weapon, but he did have his hand inside the bag which, to us as police officers, tells us there could be a weapon inside,” said Officer Michael Vega with the City of Miami Police.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and that they believed that the person being held hostage was a bank customer and not a bank teller as was originally reported.
“(It was) likely a bank customer held hostage and not a bank teller,” said Vega.
It is still not clear if the man was robbing the bank or was trying to rob the elderly woman.
A portion of West Flagler Street was closed between 1st and 2nd Ave.
No one was seriously injured, however, a city of Miami sergeant was taken to the hospital for treatment after he injured his knee ascending stairs while responding to the scene.
Police were the first to respond but now the FBI will take the lead on the investigation. The reason that the FBI leads investigations at banks goes back to 1934 when it became a federal crime to rob any national bank or state member bank of the Federal Reserve system, according to the FBI.