At Monday’s Falls Church City Council meeting, City Manager Wyatt Shields briefed the Council on the exemplary manner by which a team of City police officers effectively prevented a bank robbery attempt at the SunTrust bank from escalating into potential violence.

Officer Eric Reynolds responded to a bank teller notification that a robbery was in process, and pulled his gun on a suspect as he exited the bank. He was soon joined by Cpt. Alan Freed, Sgt. Steve Rau and Officer Daniel People. When the command was given to the suspect to put up his hand, the suspect instead put his hands in his pockets, repeating that to get a cigarette, then a lighter. The suspect was then brought to the ground and was discovered to be unarmed. But it was the kind of situation that without due restraint could have ended much more violently.