Gunman gives police slip before 7-hour 'stakeout'

Every now and again, fact is stranger -- and funnier -- than anything my imagination could come up with. This one's from Reuters...

ZURICH (Reuters) - Around 100 police officers staked out a suspected armed robber at a Zurich bank for nearly seven hours on Monday, only to find the man had already fled minutes after the alarm was raised, police said.

Police stormed the branch of Credit Suisse, opposite a police station, at around 1445 CET (1:45 p.m. British time), having tried for hours to establish contact with the assailant who was suspected of holding two employees hostage.

The drama was broadcast live on Swiss television, but it seemed the gunman had already given the slip.

"On the basis of current police information, it must be assumed that the suspect fled before the first police officers arrived on the scene," police said in a statement.

Local residents were told to remain indoors and a section of the suburb was cordoned off as police sought to bargain with the man after a third employee raised the alarm.

In fact, the employees, a male trainee and woman, had locked themselves in rooms the gunman could not enter and did not know he had already fled. They were found uninjured but traumatised by the stake-out.

Allow me to recap this for those of you who didn't read closely enough... Some guy robs a bank in Zurich, Switzerland -- and the bank is right across the street from the cop shop! (Talk about balls!)

The scared bank employees locked themselves in a room that the robber couldn't enter. Despite the fact that the bank is right across the street from the police station, the robber makes a clean getaway.The cops show up and stake the joint out for seven hours before figuring out that the guy had already left. (Did I mention that the cop shop is right across the street from the bank?)

The media thinks they're on to a great story... intrigue, suspense, guns, violence and cops... and they're there for seven hours too. (Did I mention that the guy had already left?)

After being told by their top-notch police force to stay indoors, and not wanting to miss out on the unfolding saga, Hagen and Heidi are glued to the television, waiting anxiously for the evening's reality TV to unfold.

Meanwhile, the perpetrator calmly walks to the corner market, grabs a bar of swiss chocolate, a six pack of Löwenbräu -- without anyone noticing that giant burlap sack of money -- then goes home to take a bath in the loot.