1975 SPECIAL REPORT: "GREENWICH VILLAGE BANK ROBBERY"

A young man with a highpowered rifle and a pistol seized 10 hostages in a small Manhattan bank yesterday afternoon, but laid down his arms and wearily surrendered without a fight after an eight‐hour siege that ended with all hostages freed unharmed.

The man, 23‐year‐old Ray Olsen of Merrick, L.I., placed his .30‐.30 rifle and .38‐caliber pistol on the floor near his remaining hostages in an apparent gesture of, submission shortly after 11 P.M., the police said.

In that instant, the hostages grabbèd the guns, and four policemen who had been crouching for hours behind a rear door in the hope of a momentary lapse by the gunman burst into the bank and seized the suspect.

‘Everyone's Out’
“Everyone's out, everyone's all right,” Deputy Police Commissioner Francis J. McLoughlin said moments later. Three hostages were still in the bank at the time of the assailant's capture; the others had been released at intervals earlier.
At 2:30 A. M., the gunman was booked at the Elizabeth Street station on charges of kidnapping, attempted robbery and possession of dangerous weapons.

The tense siege, during which only the gunman had fired shot, unfolded at the Bankers Trust Company at 498 Avenue of the Americas, between 12th and 13th Streets on the northern fringe of Greenwich Village.

Scores of police officers and Federal agents had thrown up a ring of firepower around the bank shortly after the gunman strode in at closing time. As the siege continued into the night, the gunman's demands had become rambling.
The gunman at first demanded $10‐million in gold and the release of Patricia Hearst and three other recently captured members of the so‐called Symbionese Liberation Army. But authorities said last night that he had no apparent connection with the terrorist group and that these demands did not appear to be under serious negotiation.

The hostages who were let go came out at intervals—three at 5 P.M., in what the police termed a “gesture of good faith,” two more at 7:40 P.M. and two more at 8:35 P.M. The police, who whisked the hostages away for questioning, declined to release their names immediately.
As night fell, the gunman, calling himself “Cat” in telephone conversations with authorities and reporters, demanded and was given a shopping cart full of food, cigarettes and beer. He also was said to have demanded to see friends, rock stars and public officials and to have engaged in discursive talks with callers.

The police took a number of Mr. Olsen's friends to the scene, but none was allowed into the bank. And there were no indications that authorities were even considering complying with his demands for gold or the release of Miss Hearst, William and Emily Harris and Wendy. Yoshimura, who were taken into custody in San Francisco on Sept. 18, and are being held on various charges.

In interviews broadcast by WNEW‐FM radio, the gunman conceded that he was not affiliated with the S.L.A., and with reference to Miss Hearst, he said: “I don't know her personally. I'm just a fan.”
As for the S.L.A., he said: “I sympathize with their cause and I wouldn't mind being affiliated with them.”

Later the assailant told a caller from United Press International: “I'm not coming out. I'm waiting to get what I want. If I don't get what I want, I'm going to blow my brains out.”

One shot was fired by the gunman inside the bank early in the siege, but the police said no one, had been injured.

As the standoff developed, the police evacuated buildings on each side of the four‐story brick bank building, on the east side of the avenue in midblock, and sealed oft the entire area. Pedestrian and vehicular traffic was halted on the avenue from 11th to 14th Street and on 12th and 13th Streets from Fifth to Seventh Avenue.

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