Oklahoma Bank President Shot During Robbery Speaks Out After Robber's Suicide

A convicted robber who killed a Tulsa bank teller in 2004 killed himself in prison Saturday.

6/14/2018 Related Story: Oklahoma Death Row Inmate Found Dead In His Cell

The Department of Corrections said Jeremy Williams took his own life on death row.

News On 6 spoke with another man who was shot by Williams during the robbery.

The robbery and shooting at First Fidelity Bank came during a rash of armed bank robberies, but it stood out as unusually violent.  

The robbers shot a teller after she had given them money.

They shot a customer who posed no threat and shot Bank President Mark Poole when he couldn't get into the vault.

“You would never think on the second floor of a bank on 21st, you'd be at risk,” said Poole. 
    
He's now the president of First National in Broken Arrow.

Despite multiple surgeries, he still has a bullet inside him.

“There's not really a day that goes by that I don't remember that. I try to take a positive outlook and make sure we keep everybody safe, that we use that experience to keep everybody safe,” Poole said.     

Jeremy Williams was out of appeals and facing a death sentence for the murder.

Prison guards found him hanging in his cell Saturday night.

“It's been a long process, 14 years ago on June 22nd. Not the closure that anyone expected, but it is closure,” Poole said. 

Poole said he was not looking forward to an eventual execution of Williams, which he could have witnessed.
After all this time, he said his thoughts are with the other victim’s families and even the family of the killer who took his own life before the state could execute him.

“There's no explanation for what they did. I think in total, it was a robbery where they got $3,200. It's never worth it, it's never worth lives, or the penalty that they face,” Poole said. 

The Department of Corrections said they discovered the inmate hanging during a routine count after they noticed his window was covered with a sheet.