Bank robbery shakes residents of Joice

Northern Iowa residents of a small town were shocked to learn the local bank was robbed at gunpoint Monday. Winnebago County Sheriff David Gentz says it happened about 12:30.He says a man came into the bank, produced a handgun, took money from the vault and fled on foot — and nobody could say if the robber had a getaway car, or which way he went. Witnesses tell authorities a white man wearing a sweatshirt, bluejeans and a ski mask entered the bank and showed the teller a gun. Sheriff Gentz says nobody was hurt. The last robbery in the town was 27 years ago, and he says this one will make an impact for a long time, especially on the people “who had a gun stuck in their face.” The sheriff says there were three people in the bank at the time of the robbery, and there’s a reward for helping finding the holdup man, though the sheriff didn’t have details on Monday. The sheriff says a lot of people are shocked at the first crime of its kind in over a quarter-century in the tiny community of fewer than 250 people, barely ten miles south of the Minnesota border and just west of Interstate-35. He says there are armed robberies somewhere everyday, and there’s no telling whether there’s any connection with any others in the area. He says the investigation is just beginning.