Last night at 6:15 p.m., the Oxford police officers took a walk-in report of an armed robbery that occurred at the Regions Bank located at 1800 Jackson Avenue West.
The police officers at the Oxford police station spoke to the victim and a witness. They told the officers a black male wearing a red bandanna over his face pulled a gun on the victim, demanding that the victim give him the money. The victim took the money from the ATM located outside the Regions building and gave it to him. The suspect then fled on foot behind the bank.
The victim, Louis Bourgeois, posted on his Facebook of the armed robbery last night: “New experience: robbed at gun point in my fair city Oxford, Mississippi, at 6 in the evening at the Regions ATM on Jackson Avenue. Yes, I see the irony in this and ,no, it does not in anyway change my view on the importance of liberal arts education in Mississippi prisons.”
Bourgeois recently has won the Mississippi Educator Award awarded by Mississippi Humanities for VOX Press’ Prison Writes Initiative that he launched last year.
In the four-months class, the prisoners learned reading and writing skills in a traditional college creative writing workshop format. The prisoners wrote stories about their lives, and those were published in Prison Narratives which can be bought on VOX Press website. Their stories can also be read on HottyToddy.com.
In an email, Louis Bourgeois wrote: “The incident has left me frazzled. There is nothing quite as invasive as being robbed at gunpoint, especially since my 12-year-old daughter was there. But in no way does this change my views about the kind of work we’re doing in Mississippi’s prisons. If anything, it makes me angry that we live in such a John Wayne gun culture: the person who robbed me is more of a symptom rather than the cause of a much deeper problem with American society. Now, the person who did this certainly needs to be dealt with because he’s inciting fear and is potentially deadly to our town. I think he is being truly stupid holding people up for paltry sums of money. But it’s also very important to not over react and lose our own humanity because of fear. Eventually this guy will be captured and will spend a great part of his life in prison. I’m not sure what the appropriate consequence should be, but I think this incidence should serve as a moment of reflection for those of us who truly love Oxford and are concerned with the direction the town is going in.”
When the officers went to the bank after, they discovered the suspect also attempted to rob another person just prior to the aforementioned robbery.
Major Jeff McCutchen said in a media alert issued last night: ” Officers and Investigators began checking the area for the suspect as well as attempting to locate potential witnesses. At this time the case is still under investigation and the suspect has not been apprehended. The suspect is considered armed & dangerous. If you have any information please contact us at 662-232-2400 or CrimeStoppers at 662-234-8477.”
This morning during the daily police report releases via email to media, McCutchen said the Oxford investigators are still working on the case.
McCutchen said, “We will pass on any developments as they come.”
Callie Daniels Bryant is the senior managing editor for HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at callie.daniels@hottytoddy.com. Jeff McVay is a staff writer and graphic designer for Hottytoddy.com. He can be reached at jeff.mcvay@hottytoddy.com.
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