ELLOREE, S.C. - An Orangeburg man was taken into custody Thursday after the S.C. Bank and Trust in Elloree was robbed.

Police charged 29-year-old Charles L. McDuffie of 2618 Cordova Road with armed robbery and grand larceny. He was also charged with first-degree burglary in connection with the ensuing chase.

“His actions were violent,” said Elloree Police Chief Preston Avinger, who actually nabbed the suspect after a chase through the north side of town. “The video we have seen shows him up on the counter, standing there with a gun in his hand, waving it down at the clerks.”

At around 10:02 a.m., police received a distress call from the bank indicating a robbery was in progress. Investigators were still piecing the details together Thursday afternoon, but believe a man walked into the Old Number Six Highway bank brandishing what appeared to be a handgun.

“He said it was a gun to one of these video games,” Avinger said. “He said he’d cut the cord.”

As of late Thursday, no firearm had been recovered. Avinger said officials are still searching for a handgun, real or not.

As the gunman ran at the tellers, he leaped over the counter, taking money from one till before turning his attention to another. He was forced to recover his weapon after dropping it on the floor.

Witnesses said some tellers ran into a nearby break room while at least one was left outside, hiding under the counter. No one is believed to have been physically injured in the incident.

Avinger said he was first on the scene three minutes after the call came in. As Avinger drove up, a man ran across the parking lot toward Old Number Six Highway. The police chief chased the man behind Delta Pharmacy before losing sight of him.

However, Elloree Town Administrator John Singh caught sight of the suspect running across East Cleveland Street, heading into a residential area.

“He kicked somebody’s door down and ran through their house,” Singh said.

That was the house of Tonya Tusa, who said she was about to make coffee when she heard a disturbance at the rear of her home.

“I heard the glass breaking and I see this African-American and he’s holding up his hands, and says, ‘I’m not going to hurt you,’” Tusa said. “It really frightened me because I wasn’t expecting a dude to run in out of nearly nowhere.”

Tusa said she then began yelling for the man to get out. But the suspect apparently had a plan. Tusa said he had several layers of clothing on, shucking one inside her home and leaving the garments, which police later collected.

Trying several doors, the subject eventually got out of the house, Tusa said, and ran into a wooded area behind a nearby church.

Meantime, multiple law enforcement agencies were converging on the rural town as Tusa dealt with her intruder. When she called 911, officers from St. Matthews, Santee, Vance, Eutawville, the S.C. Highway Patrol, the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office, the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole zeroed in on a community picnic area.

At Joe Miller Park, the suspect was apprehended by Avinger.

“I appreciate all the help, the quick responses from these agencies, Calhoun County,” Avinger said. “If I try to name them all, I’ll forget somebody. But I want to thank all these agencies.”

The police chief pointed out there were several key points that could have changed the end result of the bank robbery. Had Singh or Tusa not seen or reported the fleeing man’s whereabouts, the subject could have escaped -- a Pontiac Grand Prix believed to have been driven by the suspect was located near where he was captured.

“Another hundred yards,” Avinger said.

In addition, Avinger believes the suspect tried to divert officers during the chase by calling in a carjacking at a business on the other side of town.

The robber made off with an undetermined amount of cash, but authorities believe most of that was dropped in the bank parking lot.

“He was carrying a bag,” Tusa said. “But it was flat, it was empty.”

Authorities said at least one of two dye packs taken by the suspect detonated.

Avinger said a butcher knife was found on McDuffie after his arrest. He said dye was found on the knife.

Witnesses told police the suspect had been seen in town earlier Thursday. During questioning, the suspect told police he works at a nearby business, Avinger said.

Town officials say Thursday’s robbery attempt was the only time they could recall the Elloree bank being targeted for such a heist.

“We’re a great little town. It seems some want to change that,” said Elloree Mayor Van Stickles. “I’m thankful it ended the way it did. The police agencies, they were tremendous.”

T&D Staff Writer Richard Walker can be reached by e-mail at rwalker@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5516.

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